Zaporijia, a nuclear power plant at the heart of the conflict

A missile, planted in the roof and which did not explode, fell only a few meters from a nuclear reactor. A little further on, a body of shells. The proof that the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia (Ukraine) is now a battlefield. The damage is the result of bombings suffered by the plant during the weekend. In recent days, Zaporizhia finds itself again at the heart of the Ukrainian conflict. In Russian hands since March, it is located opposite territory still held by the Ukrainian army. A site from which the Russians are accused of hitting the Ukrainians on the other side.

Shooting from here, they’d be using the nuclear power plant as a shield. “They are counting on the fact that this nuclear power plant represents a great danger, a great risk if ever it were hit (…) for the Ukrainian army to hold back its blows”explains Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, research director of the Thomas Moore Institute.

The taking of war is also economic. It would be a means of appropriating the energy. Some suspect President Putin of wanting to connect the plant to the occupied territories. “The Russian soldiers present are implementing the program which aims to connect the plant to the Crimean electricity network”said Petro Kotin, president of Energoatom, operator of the Zaporizhia power plant.