Russia has launched a large-scale missile attack on Ukraine. The embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is also affected by the power grid failure. How dangerous is the situation?
In the worst Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy supply in months, a power line to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was cut, among other things. The Dniprovskaya high-voltage line failed in the morning, the power plant management of the power plant occupied by the Russian military in southern Ukraine said on Telegram.
The power supply is guaranteed by a replacement line and there is no risk to the safety of the nuclear power plant, it said. Several energy facilities were also hit in other parts of Ukraine.
During the night there was an air alert in large parts of Ukraine. According to Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense forces, Russia fired cruise missiles from Tu-95 strategic bombers from the area around the Caspian Sea. Later, attacks with drones and ballistic missiles, including those of the Kinschal type, were also reported. Practically all parts of Ukraine were targeted, from Lviv in the west to Donetsk in the east, from Kharkiv and Sumy in the north to Odessa and Mykolaiv in the south.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia used 60 drones and almost 90 missiles to bombard the area during the night. “The world sees the targets of the Russian terrorists absolutely clearly: power plants and power lines, the dam of a hydroelectric power station, ordinary apartment buildings and even a trolleybus,” he said. He expressed his condolences to the victims’ families. However, there are no official figures yet.
More hits
According to official information, there were impacts on energy objects in Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv and Sumy, among others. “The aim (of the attacks) is not only to damage the country’s energy system, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale outage,” Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko wrote on Facebook. He acknowledged multiple hits and blackouts in various regions. He also wrote that the power supply at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was also affected by the attacks.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe was occupied by Russian troops in March 2022, shortly after the start of the war. To this day it remains in the frontline area and has come under fire several times. Because of safety concerns, the reactors were eventually shut down but still need to be cooled.
Source: Stern
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