ZAPORIZHZHIA (Dispatches) – Ukraine’s and Europe’s largest nuclear plant was once again knocked offline in the early hours of Saturday amid sustained shelling that destroyed a key power line and penetrated deep into the plant’s premises, local Russian-backed authorities said.
The claims came barely a day after a team of inspectors from the UN nuclear agency arrived at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been caught in fierce recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces, six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine.
The IAEA’s mission is meant to help secure the site as Moscow and Kiev continue to trade blame for shelling at and around the nuclear plant.
“The Dneprovskaya power line has been hit. The nuclear power plant has switched to servicing its own needs,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Kremlin-appointed regional administration, wrote on Telegram, adding that a shell had struck an area between two reactors. His claims could not be immediately verified.
Late on Friday evening, the Russian-backed authorities reported that the plant had been under fire for about two hours, blaming Ukrainian forces in the latest of a series of similar claims.
Meanwhile, a senior Russian diplomat warned the U.S. against supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine, saying that Moscow is determined to use nuclear arms if its existence is threatened.
“We have repeatedly warned the U.S. about the consequences that may follow if the U.S. continues to flood Ukraine with weapons,” said Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Friday. “It effectively puts itself in a state close to what can be described as a party to the conflict.”
He further reminded Washington of Russia’s military doctrine that envisions the use of nuclear weapons in case the existence of the Russian state comes under threat.
“Russia is capable of fully defending its interests, and the goals of the special military operation will be fully achieved,” Ryabkov said on state television.
“We are warning the U.S. against making provocative steps, such as deliveries of longer-range and more devastating weapons,” he noted. “It’s a road to nowhere fraught with grave consequences, the responsibility for which will lie entirely with Washington.”
In another development, German police have used pepper spray and batons to disperse anti-war protesters who were trying to block the entrance to a weapons factory in Kassel, arresting at least one.
The protest on Friday was held by activists affiliated with the Disarm Rheinmetall movement, which have been calling for protest rallies across the European country in efforts to halt the production and delivery of German-made weapons, including arms destined for the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and weapons manufacturer, headquartered in the city of Düsseldorf.
The protesters had sought to block morning shift workers from entering the factory of Rheinmetall’s competitor Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. The group said it had succeeded in shutting down production at the facility for the day.