Issued on: 16/07/2022 – 07:07
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of using a captured nuclear power plant as a storage depot and for launching weapons. As Russia ramped up attacks on Ukrainian cities, air-raid sirens sounded in Kiev on Saturday. Follow FRANCE 24 for live updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
6:41 am: Russia accused of deploying missiles from captured nuclear power plant in Ukraine
Russia is using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as a base to store weapons, including “missile systems” and to shell the surrounding areas in Ukraine, an official from the Kiev nuclear agency said Friday, while almost the entire country was placed on air raid sirens.
The president of Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom said the situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant was “extremely tense”, with up to 500 Russian soldiers controlling the plant.
“The occupiers are bringing their machines there, including missile systems, from which they are already shelling the other side of the Dnipro River and Nikopol territory,” Pedro Kotin said in a television interview, referring to the city across the water. .
The plant in southwestern Ukraine has been under Russian control since the early weeks of the Moscow invasion, although it is still operated by Ukrainian personnel.
The threat of airstrikes in most of Ukraine was also raised after reports of attacks in areas far from the front lines, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the Russian aim was “to inflict maximum damage on Ukrainian cities”.
“I urge you again, please don’t ignore the air strike signals now,” he said in his daily televised speech.
4:56 AM: Bomb sirens resound in Kiev as Russia ramps up attacks
Air-raid sirens sounded over Kiev on Saturday as Russia stepped up its long-range bombing of Ukrainian cities, killing at least 34 people and injuring dozens in the past three days.
Late Friday, Russian missiles hit the central city of Dnipro, killing three people and injuring 15, regional governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Telegram. Missiles hit a factory facility and a street next to it, he said. Images on social media showed thick black smoke rising from the buildings and burning cars.
Eight people were killed and 13 were injured in a series of shelling at 10 sites in the eastern region of Donetsk, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a televised interview.
On Thursday, Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea hit an office building in Vinnytsia, a city of 370,000 people, about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Kiev.
Kiev said at least 23 people were killed and dozens injured in the strike.
>> Prosecutors collect evidence of ‘war crime’ in Vinnytsia, Ukraine
The attacks were the latest in a series of Russian hits in recent weeks that used long-range missiles on crowded buildings in towns far from the front, killing dozens of people.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)