(by Luca Mirone) (ANSA) – ROME, AUGUST 10 – The Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are preparing to connect it to Crimea, cutting the Ukrainian electricity grid. The alarm is raised by the national agency for atomic energy, Energoatom, which warns of a dangerous operation that risks causing a Fukushima effect. On the fighting front, the echo of the explosions at the Russian military base in Crimea, in all probability hit by a Ukrainian raid, is still strong: reconquering the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014 is still an indispensable goal for Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Russian plan to redirect Zaporizhzhia’s electricity production towards Crimea plans to “damage all lines of the nuclear power plant and cut the connection to the Ukrainian electricity system,” said Energoatom president Petro Kotin. Three lines have already been tampered with and at the moment the plant operates with only one production line, “an extremely dangerous way of working,” he added.
He warned that “we are already very close” to the situation that had occurred in Fukushima, before the disaster at the Japanese power plant in 2011. “As soon as the latter line is shut down, the station will switch to diesel, and everything will depend on the reliability of their work and the sufficiency of fuel available for diesel engines “: the risk is” the melting of nuclear materials “.
The Kiev alarm is shared by the G7. Russia’s control of the power plant “endangers the whole region,” foreign ministers said in a statement. Moscow, on the other hand, reiterated that the doors of Zaporizhzhia are open to the IAEA, and that the UN must allow the inspections, hitherto hindered by Kiev. The Russians also called for a Security Council meeting to denounce the “recent attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces on the nuclear power plant”. Accusations once again sent back to sender from Ukraine, according to which enemy bombs in villages in the area killed at least 16 people in just one night. Meanwhile, on the conflict front, the invasion troops are trying to strengthen the offensive in the Donbass (according to Westerners also with the use of volunteers and the recruitment of detainees): in Bakhmut the Ukrainian authorities have reported six deaths in a raid that would have hit also a residential area. In the south, however, the defense forces continue to keep pressure on Kherson high, stating that the enemy is no longer able to control the railway line that connects the region to Crimea.
Precisely in Crimea, the pro-Russians updated the damage and casualty toll after the explosions at the Saki base: at least one dead and 14 injured. In what appeared to be the first major blow landed by the Ukrainians in the peninsula, which according to the Ukrainian aviation resulted in the destruction of at least a dozen warplanes. The official version of the incident is always the Russian version of an accident, also because Kiev claimed to know nothing. Yet all the clues, supported by Ukrainian military sources, suggest a long-range raid, probably with the Neptune missiles already used to sink the Moskva flagship. Or with the American ATACms, with a range of 300 km, which may have been part of the latest supplies. Furthermore, Volodymyr Zelensky, in his evening video-message, even without making a direct reference to the base, was very clear about his objectives: “This war against Ukraine and against the whole of free Europe began with Crimea and must end with the Crimea. With its liberation “. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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