Twelve Ukrainians were injured on Saturday in a Russian bombardment in Voznesensk, a town not far from a nuclear power plant in the south of the country, said the Ukrainian authorities, who accuse Moscow of “nuclear terrorism”.
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“According to preliminary information, twelve people including three children were injured. Two children are in serious condition” after this attack in the Mykolaiv region, the prosecution said on Telegram messaging.
Earlier in the day, regional governor Vitaly Kim reported, on the same network, nine injuries, including four children aged three to 17 and who, according to him, were “all in serious condition”.
Voznesensk is about twenty kilometers as the crow flies from the Ukrainian nuclear power plant of Privdennooukraïnsk, the second most powerful in Ukraine, which has a total of four nuclear power plants.
A Russian strike in the 30-kilometer zone around the plant “is another cynical act of nuclear terrorism by Russia”, accused Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom on Telegram.
“It cannot be ruled out that this missile was fired in the direction of the Pivdennooukrainsk power plant, which the Russian military already tried to seize at the beginning of March,” accused Energoatom.
The strike hit a residential building and several houses in Voznesensk, where around 30,000 people live, the State Emergency Service said on Facebook, posting images of a gutted building.
The region of Mykolaiv, which regularly undergoes violent Russian bombardments, is close to that of Kherson, almost entirely occupied by Russian troops since Moscow launched an attack on Ukraine at the end of February.
“Voznesensk. The terrorist country called Russia has hit a residential building”, denounced on Telegram the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andriï Yermak.
“Our task is to ensure that not only the current generation of Russians are held accountable, but also their children and grandchildren. Russia will pay for everything,” he added.
The Ukrainian army also indicated on Saturday on Telegram that it had shot down four Russian Kalibr-type cruise missiles near the city of Dnipro (center east) launched from the Black Sea, using an S-air defense system. 300.
The exiled mayor of Melitopol, a city in the Kherson region occupied by the Russians, Ivan Fedorov, for his part said in the morning on Telegram that the Ukrainians had bombed a Russian military base in this occupied city.
On the ground, the Ukrainian army reported on Saturday attempted Russian offensives, particularly in the Donetsk region, near the towns of Bakhmout, Zaïtsevé and Kodema. “Fighting continues,” said the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff in a statement.
Europe also has its eyes riveted on the Ukrainian power plant in Zaporijjia (south), the largest on the continent, and fears a major disaster while the plant, occupied since March by Russian troops, is the target of bombardments, including s mutually accuse Kyiv and Moscow.
Friday evening, the French and Russian presidents noted “the importance of sending as soon as possible a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the nuclear power plant, which will be able to assess the situation on site”, according to the Kremlin.