Nuke plant attacks could prove catastrophic, Putin warns Macron
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned his French counterpart of the potential “catastrophic consequences” of what he said were Ukrainian atacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in a Russian controlled area of Ukraine.
During a telephone call with Emmanuel Macron, Putin “drew atention to regular Ukrainian atacks on (Zaporizhzhia nuclear) facilities, including a radioactive waste storage facility, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe has been a focal point of fighting in recent weeks, raising concerns of a potential nuclear incident.
Putin said Russian specialists at the plant were taking steps to ensure its safety and said Moscow was ready to continue work with the UN’S atomic agency to agree on “non-politicised” solutions to problems at the facility.
Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency said on Sunday the final reactor at Zaporizhzhia was shut off as a safety measure.
During the call with Macron, Putin also accused Ukrainian forces of using Western-supplied weapons to target civilian infrastructure in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces have launched a major counter-offensive to wrest back control of swathes of the east and pro-moscow rebels this weekend reported that separatists were fighting “difficult” batles with Kyiv’s army in the Donetsk region in Donbas.
The plant, one of the 10 biggest atomic power stations in the world, has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war, which marked its 200th day on Sunday. Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for shelling around the plant that has damaged the power lines connecting it to the grid.
Nuclear operator Energoatom renewed its appeal for Russian forces to leave the Zaporizhzhia plant and allow for the creation of a “demilitarized zone” around it.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog that has two experts at the plant, confirmed that external power has been restored there.
However, IAEA Director-general Rafael Grossi said he remains “gravely concerned about the situation at the plant, which remains in danger as long as any shelling continues.”
He added that “consultations have begun on the urgent need to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone” at the plant.
The IAEA said it would take 30 hours to bring the sixth reactor to a “cold shutdown state,” but it will still require electricity for its safety systems ater that. The agency said work is under way to restore other power lines at the plant, which remains occupied by Russian forces but run by Ukrainian engineers.
President Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.
The trip, Xi’s first abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows just how confident he is about his grip on power in China and just how perilous the global situation has become.
Against a backdrop of Russia’s confrontation with the West over Ukraine, the crisis over Taiwan and a stutering global economy, Xi is due on a state visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
China’s president will then meet Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kremlin said.
Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters last week that the Russian president was expected to meet Xi at the summit. The Kremlin declined to give details on their talks. China has yet to confirm Xi’s travel plans.
Ukrainian troops on Sunday successfully pressed their swit counteroffensive in the northeastern part of the country, even as a nuclear power plant in the Russia-occupied south completely shut down in a bid to prevent a radiation disaster as fighting raged nearby.
Kyiv’s action to reclaim Russia-occupied areas in the Kharkiv region forced Moscow to withdraw its troops to prevent them from being surrounded, leaving behind significant numbers of weapons and munitions in a hasty retreat as the war marked its 200th day on Sunday.
A jubilant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mocked the Russians in a video address Saturday night, saying “the Russian army in these days is demonstrating the best that it can do — showing its back.”
He posted a video of Ukrainian soldiers hoisting the national flag over Chkalovske, another town reclaimed in the counteroffensive.
Yuriy Kochevenko, of the 95th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, tweeted a video from what appeared to be the city center of Izyum. The city was considered an important command and supply hub for Russia’s northern front.
“Everything around is destroyed, but we will restore everything. Izyum was, is, and will be Ukraine,” Kochevenko said in his video, showing the empty central square and destroyed buildings.
KYIV: Ukrainian forces kept pushing north in the Kharkiv region and advancing to its south and east, Ukraine’s army chief said on Sunday, a day ater their rapid advances made Russia abandon its main bastion in the area.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed Ukraine’s lightning advances in the northeast Kharkiv province as a potential breakthrough in the six-month-old war, saying this winter could bring more rapid gains of territory if Kyiv can get more powerful weapons.
“In the Kharkiv direction, we began to advance not only to the south and east, but also to the north. There are 50 km to go to the state border (with Russia),” Ukraine’s chief commander General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram.
He said the country’s armed forces have regained control of more than 3,000 square km since the beginning of this month.
The retreat from the city of Izium marked Russian forces’ worst defeat since they were were pushed back from the capital Kyiv in March, as thousands of Russian soldiers let behind ammunition and equipment as they fled.
“I believe that this winter is a turning point, and it can lead to the rapid de-occupation of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said in comments to a political forum published on his website late on Saturday.
“We see how they (occupiers) are fleeing in some directions. If we were a litle stronger with weapons, we would de-occupy faster.”
Ukrainian officials stopped short of confirming they had recaptured Izium, but Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak posted a photo of troops on its outskirts and tweeted an emoji of grapes. The city’s name means “raisin.” Kyiv-based military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said the gains could pave the way for a further push into Luhansk region, whose capture Russia claimed at the beginning of July.
“If you look at the map, it is logical to assume that the offensive will develop in the direction of Svatove — Starobelsk, and Sievierodonetsk — Lysychansk. These are two promising directions,” he said.
The gains are important politically for Zelenskiy as he seeks to keep Europe united behind Ukraine - supplying weapons and money - even as an energy crisis looms this winter following cuts in Russian gas supplies to European customers.
Britain’s defence ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Sunday that Ukrainian forces continued making gains in the Kharkiv region over the past 24 hours.