Kiev (EFE).- The Russian Army attacked again on Thursday night the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia and its homonymous capital, in the south of the country and where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located, leaving thousands of people without power electrical.
The offensive came late in the day, hours after Russia had launched dozens of missiles against up to ten regions of the country that caused a dozen deaths and left the nuclear power plant disconnected from the Ukrainian electricity grid for hours.
“Racist (Russian) abomination cynically attacked our city again. As a result of the flights, critical infrastructure facilities were damaged,” said Anatoliy Kurtev, secretary of the Zaporizhia city council, in statements collected by the local Unian agency.
After the attack “a fire broke out. According to preliminary information, two educational institutions were damaged and some 20,000 subscribers lost power. Heating and water supply were also lacking in some areas of the city.
“Currently, the supply of electricity, heat and water in Zaporizhia has been partially restored. The work is ongoing,” said the municipal official.
Concern at the IAEA
Ukraine’s Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was already completely cut off from the power grid on Thursday following massive Russian attacks that occurred early Thursday morning.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the plant had been reconnected to an external power supply line after eleven hours in emergency mode, depending on diesel generators.
“Today’s loss of all external power has shown once again how fragile and dangerous the situation is at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” warned Rafael Grossi, IAEA Director General.
Grossi recalled that this is the sixth time that Zaporizhia has been without power supply since the beginning of the Russian invasion and occupation of the facility.
In addition, he indicated that the IAEA inspectors stationed at the plant again heard “heavy bombardments”, an indication of the increase in military activity in that region.
The IAEA has spent months demanding the creation of a security zone around the plant to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.
The plant, the third largest in the world, was occupied by the Russian Army after the invasion and has suffered several disconnections from the Ukrainian network since then, due to the bombardments that take place in the area and of which Moscow and Kiev are accused.