The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in the occupied zone in southern Ukraine, was “disconnected” from the Ukrainian network on Thursday, according to the Ukrainian operator, the United States warning Russia against diverting the energy produced which would be “unacceptable”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the same day ordering a 10% increase (+137,000 soldiers) in the number of soldiers in the army, in the midst of an offensive against Ukraine and against a backdrop of growing tensions. with Western countries.
At the center of all concerns due to bombings of which Russians and Ukrainians accuse each other, the Zaporizhia power plant found itself “totally disconnected” from the network after damage to the power lines caused by fires, announced the company of Ukrainian State Energoatom.
She specified that the nuclear facilities remained supplied by the neighboring thermal power plant.
In the evening, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been “informed by Ukraine” of this loss of connection.
“Unacceptable”
” But [la centrale] is currently in operation”, underlined the IAEA, confirming that it “remains connected” from “the neighboring thermal power plant which can provide emergency electricity”.
American diplomacy warned Thursday that any Russian attempt to divert nuclear energy from Ukraine would be “unacceptable”.
“The electricity it produces belongs by right to Ukraine and any attempt to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian grid to redirect [l’électricité] towards the occupied regions is unacceptable,” she insisted.
For his part, the American president, Joe Biden, spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to renew his support for him on the occasion of the Ukrainian national holiday on August 24.
“This is a bittersweet anniversary, but I have made it clear that the United States will continue to support Ukraine and its people in their fight for their sovereignty,” Biden wrote in a tweet.
Ukraine on Thursday denounced the Russian bombardment of a train station which, according to it, caused the death of at least 25 civilians the day before, Moscow claiming for its part that it had targeted a military train and killed more than 200 soldiers.
Perpetrated on the day of the Ukrainian national holiday, which coincided with the sixth month of the offensive launched by Russia on February 24 against Ukraine, this strike on the station of Tchapliné, in the Dnipropetrovsk region (center), was denounced by President Zelensky before the UN Security Council.
“We are going to make the abusers pay for everything they have done. And we are going to drive them out of our land,” Mr. Zelensky said Wednesday evening by videoconference.
After Britain’s Boris Johnson on Wednesday, he received Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in kyiv on Thursday.
The exact toll of the bombardment remained to be confirmed on Thursday. Oleg Nikolenko, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, reported on Twitter that “25 civilians were killed following a missile strike” at the station, denouncing “Moscow terrorism”.
The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office for its part indicated that “10 civilians were killed, including two children aged six and 11, and 10 others injured, including two children” at the Chapliné station and its surroundings, leaving open the possibility that the other victims are not civilians.
“A military train”
Russia, for its part, claims to have hit “a military train” bound for “combat zones” in eastern Ukraine, Moscow’s priority strategic objective.
An Iskander missile “directly hit a military train in Tchapliné station […] eliminating more than 200 servicemen from the Ukrainian Armed Forces reserve” as well as equipment, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The search for survivors continued Thursday in Tchapliné, underlined the governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Valentin Reznitchenko.
According to the staff of the Ukrainian army, it “repelled an attack near Dolyna and Dmytrivka”, in the Donetsk region (east).
“The occupier tried to advance near Kodema (east) and Bakhmout (east), launching assaults, suffering casualties, then retreating,” he added.
Fighting and shelling in Ukraine have generally decreased in intensity since early July.
Since the withdrawal of Russian troops from around kyiv at the end of March, the bulk of the clashes have been concentrated in the east, where they progressed very slowly before the front froze, and in the south, where the Ukrainians say carry out a counter-offensive, which was also very slow.
Russia, however, continues to regularly strike other regions with long-range missiles, although the capital and its surroundings are rarely hit.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres once again denounced an “absurd” war on Wednesday, after six months of a conflict that left tens of thousands dead and injured.