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Reuters
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday asked international inspectors to allow access to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant after Ukraine and Russia exchanged accusations over shelling of Europe's largest nuclear power plant over the weekend. asked.
"Any attack on a nuclear power plant is an act of suicide," Guterres said at a press conference in Japan on Saturday at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial to mark his 77th anniversary of the dropping of the world's first atomic bomb. attended the ceremony.
Ukraine said Saturday's renewed Russian shelling damaged three of his radiation sensors at the Zaporizhia power plant and injured a worker.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of committing "nuclear terrorism" and justified more international sanctions, this time against Moscow's nuclear sector.
"No country in the world will feel safe when a terrorist state fires at a nuclear power plant," Zelensky said in a television address on Sunday.
Russian forces captured his factory in southeastern Ukraine in early March, but it is still run by Ukrainian engineers.
Russian-installed authorities in the area said Ukrainian forces had struck the site with multiple rocket launchers, damaging an area near an administration building and a storage facility. The Russian embassy in Washington also issued a statement listing the damage. Two high-voltage power lines and water pipes were damaged as a result of the shelling, and critical infrastructure was affected thanks to the effective and timely action of the Russian military to cover the nuclear power plant. No," the embassy said.
Reuters was unable to verify the versions on either side.
The incident at his Zaporizhzhia site, where Kyiv claimed Russia crashed into a power line on Friday, stunned the world.
Guterres said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs access to the plant.
"He fully supports all efforts of the IAEA to create the conditions for the stabilization of nuclear power plants," Mr. Guterres said.
IAEA Director Rafael Mariano Grossi warned Saturday that the latest attacks "highlight the very real risk of a nuclear disaster."
Elsewhere, four other ships set sail from Ukrainian Black Sea ports while the first cargo ship was docked since Russia's 24 February A deal to unblock food exports and alleviate global shortages has accelerated.
Her four ships sailing carried nearly 170,000 tons of corn and other provisions. They sailed under an agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. and Ukraine together accounted for nearly a third of world wheat exports. The turmoil since then has threatened famine in several parts of the world.
Battle of Donbass
Putin's forces are in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists occupied territory after the Kremlin annexed Crimea. trying to take complete control of
Russian forces stepped up their attacks north and northwest of the city of Donetsk in Donbass on Sunday, the Ukrainian military said. The Russians attacked Ukrainian positions near the heavily fortified settlements of Piski and Avdiuka, and shelled other parts of the Donetsk region, it said. In addition to strengthening the military, Russia is establishing a position in southern Ukraine and is gathering troops to fend off a potential counterattack near Kherson, Kyiv said.
As the fighting raged, Russians entrenched in the wake of Moscow's invasion have toyed with the idea of annexing occupied Ukraine to Russia. Last month, a senior pro-Russian official said a referendum on such a move would likely take place "over the next year."
In a video speech, Zelensky said that any "pseudo-referendum" on the occupied territories of his country joining Russia would prevent talks between Moscow and its Ukrainian counterpart or its allies. said it would be excluded.
"They said that any change in negotiations with Ukraine and the free world would eventually be clearly required by Russia."
Also on Sunday, Ukraine's chief war crimes prosecutor said about 26,000 suspected war crimes committed since the invasion were being investigated, with 135 indicted, 15 of whom were in custody. said. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Ukrainian officials reported artillery and missile attacks during the night, including in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and around military installations in the western region of Vinnitsia. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Outside of Ukraine, a proxy war was waged in the International Chess Federation, with former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovych winning his second term as president, defeating Ukrainian Andriy Barishpolets.
And after days of controversy, Amnesty International apologized for the "distress and outrage" caused by reports accusing Ukraine of endangering civilians. It infuriated and forced the head of the rights group's Ukraine office to resign.
(reported by Reuters bureau, written by Raphael Satter and Stephen Coates, edited by Daniel Wallis)
