With its ongoing war crimes in Ukraine, Russia has been targeting not only civilian apartment buildings and public facilities, but systematically attacking vital life-support infrastructure like electric power plants, natural gas and water facilities in an attempt to destroy Ukraine's will to resist Russia's brutal invasion as winter sets in. CNN reports that this past weekend, Ukraine's largest nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia came under shelling, almost certainly from Russian artillery:
"Ukraine’s national nuclear power company Energoatom said it appeared that Russian forces were trying to hinder the country’s ability to provide electricity to its citizens. The Kremlin has, in recent weeks, carried out a campaign of bombings and airstrikes on Ukrainian infrastructure designed to cripple Kyiv’s ability to provide heat to its residents as winter approaches.
The Russian Defense Ministry alleged that the blasts at Zaporizhzhia were the result of artillery fired by the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russian forces of storing heavy weaponry inside the complex and using it as cover to launch attacks, knowing that Ukraine can’t return fire without risking hitting one of the plant’s reactors." (our emphasis)
After this past weekend's shelling, the International Atomic Energy Agency representatives on site report "damage to some buildings, systems and equipment at the plant’s site, 'but none of them so far critical for nuclear safety and security..'” As Russia's military fortunes dim, it's increasingly likely that Russia will increase its attacks on the giant nuclear plant if it's forced to withdraw from the area. Destroying a reactor or more, or the spent nuclear fuel storage facilities would mean the release of dangerous radioactivity potentially into the air or in the Dnipro River which runs to the Black Sea. Russia's pro-forma denial of responsibility only indicates their willingness to further push the dangerous envelope at Zaporizhzhia, playing with nuclear fire.
