Issued on: 28/08/2022 – 09:03
The shellfire at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine fueled fears of disaster as both sides took the blame for shelling the plant’s site. Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear company Energoatom said it was assessing damage to the plant and staff were under pressure from Russian occupiers pending a likely IAEA visit. Read our live blog to keep up to date with the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
7:50 am: Energoatom says it is assessing damage from another round of shelling on Zaporizhzhya
Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear company Energoatom said on Saturday that Russian troops had again shelled the site of the complex. “The damage is currently being assessed,” Energoatom wrote in a statement to Telegram.
The Moscow Defense Ministry on Saturday accused Ukrainian troops of shelling the factory complex three times in 24 hours. It said in a statement that 17 shells were fired, with four hitting the roof of a building that stores “168 assemblies of US Westinghouse nuclear fuel.”
It said 10 shells exploded near a dry spent fuel storage facility and three near a fresh fuel storage building. It said the radiation situation at the factory remained normal.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said on Thursday his agency was “very, very close” to be able to send officials to inspect the plant.
Energoatom’s statement on Saturday said the plant’s staff had come under “heightened pressure” ahead of the likely visit, “to conceal their testimonies about the occupiers’ crimes at the station and to use it as a military base”.