Fighting rages in areas near Russian-held nuclear plant in Ukraine
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[September 08, 2022]
(Reuters) - Heavy fighting
has been raging into Thursday in areas near the Russian-occupied
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine after Kyiv warned that it
might have to shut down the plant to avoid disaster.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in its daily morning
update that some villages and communities near the plant were heavily
shelled in the 24 hours to Thursday morning from "tanks, mortars, barrel
and jet artillery".
Overnight, Russian forces fired rockets and heavy artillery into the
nearby town of Nikopol four times, the area's regional governor,
Valentyn Reznichenko, wrote on Telegram, damaging at least 11 houses and
other buildings.
On Wednesday, Ukraine said it might have to shut the nuclear plant and
called on residents in areas near the embattled facility to evacuate for
their own safety..
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling that has occurred
close to the plant and within its perimeter, risking nuclear
catastrophe. Russian forces took over the plant soon after their Feb. 24
invasion of Ukraine but Ukrainian technicians still operate the power
station.
Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the Dnipro region council, said on the
Telegram channel that Russians were shelling Nikopol from the direction
of Enerhodar - the main town serving the Zaporizhzhia plant.
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![](../images/090822PIX/news_p91.jpg)
A Russian service member holds a weapon
on the top of a military vehicle in the course of Ukraine-Russia
conflict in the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the
Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 1, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander
Ermochenko/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Sep/08/images/ads/current/graue_22SILVERADO_061822.png)
"The occupiers are deliberately shelling civilian objects in order
to terrorize the population," Lukashuk said.
Russia denies deliberately attacking civilians in its "special
military operation" to disarm and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its
allies say the invasion is an unprovoked war of aggression.
On Thursday, the Russian state TASS news agency reported, citing a
Moscow-installed head of the Enerhodar administration, Alexander
Volga, that Ukraine forces have not been striking the plant with
artillery.
"No cannon artillery strikes were observed at the (plant), but
drones periodically fly in," TASS quoted Volga, as saying.
"Projectiles have been dropped from UAVs on the territory of the
plant itself for the past two days."
(Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly, Editing by William Maclean)
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