
Dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station that services the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The hydroelectric station and the nuclear site, currently under Russian control, are being shelled by Ukrainian forces. Photo: RT.
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Dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station that services the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The hydroelectric station and the nuclear site, currently under Russian control, are being shelled by Ukrainian forces. Photo: RT.
Kiev is flirting with disaster by shelling hydroelectric facility servicing the Zaporozhye nuclear plant, says a local official.
The shelling of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station by Ukrainian forces risks a ânuclear catastropheâ at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Arseniy Zelensky, the Kakhovka facility’s deputy director for reconstruction, told reporters on Saturday, August 13.
According to Zelensky, as quoted by Russian state media outlet TASS, Kakhovka is now operating in a âvery dangerousâ emergency mode.
The Kakhovka plant is located in Kherson region in southern Ukraine, which was seized by Russian forces in the early stages of Moscowâs military operation. Together with Russia-controlled Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, it has been attacked by Kievâs troopsâwith use of Western-supplied weaponsâas reported by the regional authorities.
âIn case of problems with the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, there will be big troubles at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. [This] could lead to a nuclear catastrophe,â the deputy director of the Kakhovka plant said.
He explained to journalists that if the dam is destroyed, the nuclear facility would be deprived of the water needed to cool its reactors.
He revealed that the station has been working in emergency mode âsince the first days of hostilities.â
âThe station’s own needs, backup 6 kV, are lost, we are working in a very dangerous mode,” he said, adding that one of the turbines had to be turned off following Ukrainian rocket attacks.
If the military action ceases, Zelensky said, the plant can be ârestored within a week.â
âFortunately, the station has not yet received major damage, except for hydroelectric unit number three, which burned down in March, it takes 1.5 years to complete the work,â he said.
Zelenskyâs remarks came the day after Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the military-civilian administration of Kherson Region, revealed that the city of Novaya Kakhovka had again been attacked by âUkrainian nationalistsâ but âno tangible damageâ was caused. âThe hydroelectric power station was not damaged,â he said.
On August 11, Russiaâs Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council that a nuclear disaster can happen âat any momentâ amid the ârecklessâ shelling of the Zaporozhye plant by Kievâs forces.
âKievâs criminal attacks on the nuclear infrastructure facilities are pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster that would rival the Chernobyl one,â Nebenzia said.
Responding to Kievâs claims that Russia was the one targeting the plant in an alleged plot to discredit Ukraine, the diplomat said that Russia has no reason to target the facility or its own troops, and that multiple attacks on the facility have been documented from Ukrainian-held territory in Dnepropetrovsk Region.
The US Department of State, however, took Kievâs side by endorsing the demand for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear plant and calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops that control the area.
(RT)