Russia reports power supply issue at Zaporizhzhia after shelling
By German Press Agency
MOSCOW – The Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was again the site of fighting on Saturday, despite the presence of international inspectors.
Russian-backed authorities in the region said a key power line was damaged during shelling, the Interfax news agency reported. As a result, the power to nearby areas had been cut off.
Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been controlled by Russian forces since early March but operated by Ukrainian staff. The complex has faced a barrage of artillery fire, with Moscow and Kyiv trading blame for the strikes that risk nuclear disaster.
A 14-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the complex Thursday to inspect the war damage. Six members stayed behind. That number is to be reduced to two in the coming days, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said.
In the past several weeks, as the fighting intensified, there has been a series of reports of reactors going offline, problems with transmission lines and physical damage to the facilities themselves.
The Russian Defense Ministry accused the Ukrainian army on Saturday of trying to retake the site. It claimed 250 soldiers and “foreign mercenaries” were involved in the operation, which Russian forces successfully repelled.
None of the battlefield claims from Moscow or Kyiv could be immediately verified. The Ukrainian nuclear energy agency Energoatom has yet to comment on potential power disruptions.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Friday night that the “physical integrity of the building has been violated” but that critical safety systems were functioning.
Moscow also gave an update on Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive to push Russian forces out of the country’s south, claiming the effort was coming at a heavy cost to Ukrainians.
The “regime” in Kyiv is continuing its unsuccessful attempts to recapture the area between the cities of Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, the Defense Ministry said in Moscow.
In the past day, the ministry said Ukraine lost 23 tanks and 27 combat vehicles, plus more than 230 soldiers.
The Ukrainian army itself releases little information on the progress of the counteroffensive it launched at the start of the week.
In contrast to the Russian description, the British Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence update that Ukraine’s offensive in the Kherson region is putting pressure on Moscow.
“One element of this offensive is an ongoing advance on a broad front west of the Dnipro River, focusing on three axes within Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast,” the ministry reported.
While these operations may not have an immediate objective in mind, they have surprised Russia and exploited poor logistics, leadership and administration, according to the analysts.
“With fighting also continuing in the Donbas and Kharkiv sectors, a key decision for Russian commanders in coming days will be where to commit any operational reserve force they can generate,” the ministry continued.
The British Ministry of Defense has been publishing information gathered by its secret services since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Moscow has accused London of running a targeted disinformation campaign.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February. After meeting fierce Ukrainian resistance, Moscow announced in late March it was narrowing its focus to take control of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, collectively known as the Donbas.
Moscow’s troops have gained power in Luhansk but fierce fighting continues for the remaining areas of Donetsk where Ukraine holds power. Russia has also occupied parts of southern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian public prosecutor’s office said on Saturday that the toll on children in Donetsk has been especially severe.
At least 380 children across Ukraine have been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the office said.
At least another 737 children have been injured in the same period. The public prosecutor’s office emphasized that the numbers were preliminary, and that it was difficult to gather data from areas occupied by Russia, or where fighting was currently going on.
Donetsk province has seen the most injured children with 388, followed by Kharkiv with 204. A total of 2,328 educational institutions have been damaged, with 289 of them destroyed completely.
As far as troop losses are concerned, the Russian and Ukrainian militaries rarely speak about casualties in their own ranks, preferring instead to give death tolls on the other side that stretch into the tens of thousands.