300 meters from the reactors: Ukraine: Rocket hits the Piwdennoukrajinsk nuclear power plant

300 meters of reactors
Ukraine: Rocket hits Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant

09/19/2022, 11:10

In recent weeks, Moscow and Kyiv have held each other responsible for the bombing of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Now the Piwdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant is also under fire. “Russia is endangering the whole world,” warns President Selenskyj.

The Ukrainian operator of the Energoatom power plant accused Russia of shelling the site of the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant last night. At 00:20 (23:20 CEST), the Russian military fired on the industrial zone of the nuclear power plant, Energoatom wrote on Telegram. There was a “violent explosion” just 300 meters from the reactors.

According to the operator, the force of the explosion shattered around a hundred windows in the plant. Three high-voltage lines had to be briefly disconnected. In addition, the system of a nearby hydroelectric plant was damaged. The group also published photos of a crater four meters in diameter and two meters deep. “The three reactors are currently in regular operation,” Energoatom assured. Also, no one was injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also blamed Russia for the blast. “Russia is endangering the entire world. We have to stop it before it’s too late,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. He also provided black-and-white surveillance video of a loud blast.

The Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant is located about 100 kilometers northwest of the city of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, and almost 300 kilometers south of the capital, Kyiv. There are three reactors in operation with a net power of 2,850 megawatts.

In recent weeks, the repeated bombing of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian troops, had already aroused great international concern. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the bombing.