Ukraine condemns ‘nuclear terrorism’ after Russian missile hits near power plant

A Russian missile blew up a crater near a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, damaging nearby industrial equipment but missing three of its reactors.

Ukrainian authorities condemned the move as an act of “nuclear terrorism”.

According to Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom, the missile hit the reactor at the South Ukraine nuclear power plant near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk in Mykolaiv province about 330 yards, leaving a hole 6 feet deep and 13 feet wide.

It said the reactors were operating normally and no employees were injured, but the looming strike reignited fears that Russia’s nearly seven-month-old war in Ukraine could produce a radiation catastrophe.

The nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s second-largest after the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, has been repeatedly attacked.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week threatened to intensify attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure after a recent setback on the battlefield.

Throughout the war, Moscow has targeted Ukrainian power generation and transmission equipment, causing blackouts and compromising the safety systems of the country’s nuclear power plants.

The industrial complex, including the South Ukraine factory, is located along the South Bug River, about 190 miles south of the capital, Kyiv.

The attack also caused the temporary shutdown of a nearby hydroelectric power station, shattered more than 100 windows at the complex and cut three power lines, Ukrainian authorities said.

A black-and-white video released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense showed two large fireballs erupting in the dark at 12:19 a.m., followed by incandescent sparks. The ministry and Energoatom dubbed the attack “nuclear terrorism”.

Since shortly after the invasion, Russian forces have occupied the largest Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Europe. The shelling cut power lines to the plant, forcing the operator to shut down six of its reactors to avoid a radiation catastrophe. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the strike.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has monitors at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, said it reconnected a main transmission line on Friday to provide the power needed to cool its reactors.

But the mayor of Enehodar, where the Zaporozhye plant is located, reported Monday that there had been more shelling by Russia in the city’s industrial zone.

While warning of a possible increase in strikes, Putin claimed on Friday that his troops had so far exercised restraint, but warned that “if the situation develops like this, our response will be more severe”.

“Just recently, the Russian armed forces have carried out several influential strikes,” he said. “Let’s treat these as warning strikes.”

The latest Russian shelling killed at least eight civilians and wounded 22 others, Ukraine’s president’s office said on Monday.

The governor of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, who has largely returned to Ukraine’s hands, said the Russian shelling killed four medics trying to evacuate patients from a mental hospital and wounded two.

The mayor of the Russian-occupied eastern city of Donetsk said 13 civilians had been killed and eight wounded in shelling by Ukrainian troops.

Patricia Lewis, director of international security research at Chatham House in London, said the attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and Monday’s attack on a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine showed that the Russian military was trying to shut down Ukraine’s nuclear power plant by winter.

“Targeting nuclear power plants is a very, very dangerous and illegal act,” she told The Associated Press. “Only the generals know the purpose, but there is obviously a regular pattern.

“They seem to be trying to cut power to the reactor every time. It’s a very clumsy method because how accurate are these missiles?”

Other recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure have targeted power plants in the north and a dam in the south. They were responding to a full-scale Ukrainian counterattack in the east of the country, taking back Russian-occupied territory in the Kharkiv region.

In addition to retaking the territory, the challenges of keeping it remain, analysts say. “I cannot reveal all the details, but thanks to the Ukrainian Security Service, we are now sure that the occupiers will not gain a foothold on Ukrainian soil,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Monday.

Ukraine’s victory in Kharkiv — its biggest defeat since its troops were pushed back around Kyiv at the start of the invasion — sparked a rare public criticism in Russia and increased military and diplomatic pressure on Putin.