Ukraine ‘strikes nuclear plant fuel depot’
kyiv
Officials installed by Russia in Ukraine say a Ukrainian missile strike has punched a hole in the roof of a fuel depot at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the RIA Novosti news agency reports.
Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-backed administration in the region of Zaporizhzhia, posted a picture on Telegram of what he said was a hole in the roof of a building at the site used to store fuel for the facility’s reactor.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield report.
Ukraine and Russia have both denied targeting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant while accusing each other of doing so.
Both say the situation at the facility threatens the safety of Europe and accuse each other of risking a nuclear disaster.
Following claims of the strike, officials said radiation levels at the plant were normal.
Russian-installed officials in Zaporizhzhia accused Ukraine of “continuously firing” on the plant on Monday.
Ukraine used a US-made M777 Howitzer to fire the artillery shell, the TASS news agency reported, citing the local administration.
Reports of the strike come as the United Nations nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday it was sending a mission to the plant, which is manned by Ukrainian staff but under the control of Russia’s armed forces.
“We must protect the safety and security of Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi said on Twitter.
The IAEA said separately the mission would assess physical damage, evaluate working conditions, and check safety and security systems.
It would also “perform urgent safeguards activities,” a reference to keeping track of nuclear material.
The Kremlin said the IAEA mission was “necessary” and urged the international community to pressure Ukraine to reduce military tensions at the plant.
The United Nations, United States and Ukraine have called for a withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the nuclear complex to ensure it is not a target.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the IAEA mission must carry out its work in a politically neutral manner.
In the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Russian forces shelled military and civilian infrastructure near Bakhmut, Shumy, Yakovlivka, Zaytsevo, and Kodema, Ukraine’s military said early on Monday.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to demilitarise its southern neighbour.
Ukraine, which won independence when the Russian-dominated Soviet Union broke up in 1991, and its allies have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for a war of conquest.
Thousands of people have been killed, millions displaced and cities blasted to ruins.
The war has also threatened the global economy with an energy and food supply crisis.
Sweden, which along with Finland plans to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion, announced nearly $US50 million ($A72 million) worth of additional military aid to Ukraine on Monday during a visit to Stockholm by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Kuleba urged Sweden to provide weapons such as howitzers and shells.
“Every euro, every bullet, every shell matters,” he said.
Germany will also send more arms to Ukraine in coming weeks and help upgrade the country’s artillery and air defence capacities, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a conference in Prague.
