WORLD NEWS | Nuclear watchdog increasingly concerned about safety of Ukrainian factories

KIEV, May 7 (AP) – The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog expressed growing concern about the safety of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant after the governor of the Russian-occupied zone ordered the evacuation of towns in the region where most of the plant’s workers live. Ongoing attacks.

A 72-year-old woman was killed and three others were wounded when Russian troops fired more than 30 shells at the Ukrainian-controlled town of Nikopol near the plant, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday.

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“The general situation in the area around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, warned ahead of the latest report of the attack, released Saturday.

“I am very concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks to the plant.”

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Grossi’s comments came as Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed governor of the partially occupied Zaporozhye province, announced on Friday that he had ordered the removal of 18 settlements in the region. Civilians were evacuated, including at Enerhodar, Europe’s largest factory, next to a power station.

The affected settlements are about 50 to 70 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) from the Ukrainian-Russian fighting front, and Balicki said Ukraine had intensified attacks on the area in the past few days.

For months, analysts have pointed to the southern region of Zaporozhye as one of the possible targets of Ukraine’s expected spring counteroffensive, speculating that Kiev forces might try to cut off Russia’s “land corridor” to the Crimea peninsula and Split Russian forces in two by continuing to advance towards the Crimean peninsula. Coast of the Sea of ​​Azov.

In a Telegram post on Sunday, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the Russian-occupied coastal city of Mariupol said there was evidence that Moscow’s army had intensified the movement of tracked vehicles through the city and into the front-line Zaporozhye region.

Petro Andryushchenko claimed that “every day” more and more vehicles were found passing through the city.

He posted a brief video showing heavy trucks delivering armored vehicles on a highway, but did not specify where or when it was filmed.

In Ernekhodar, Ukraine’s general staff said on Sunday that the evacuation announced on Friday had begun.

According to an update posted on Facebook, the General Staff said the first residents to be evacuated were those who had been granted Russian citizenship after Moscow captured the town early in the war.

They were taken to the Russian-occupied Sea of ​​Azov coast about 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the southeast.

Grossi said operators of the plant’s six reactors, all of which were in shutdown mode, had not been evacuated as of Saturday, but most of them live in Ernejodar, a situation that has led to “an increasingly tense, stressful environment at the plant.” large and challenging” persons and their families. “

He added that IAEA experts “continue to hear regular shelling” at the nuclear site.

“We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for populations and the environment,” Grossi said.

“This major nuclear facility must be protected. I will continue to urge all parties to commit to this important goal.”

Elsewhere, Russian shelling on Saturday and overnight killed six civilians and wounded four in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, according to cable updates issued by local authorities on Sunday.

The region east of Donetsk has been at the center of fighting in recent months, with five civilians wounded, the local government said.

Pavlo Kyrylenko reports Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, a Kremlin-appointed local official said in a cable earlier Sunday that Ukrainian troops had struck Russia-occupied Crimea’s largest port overnight with drones.

According to a post by Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev, 10 Ukrainian drones targeted the city, three of which were shot down by air defenses. No damage was done, Razvozayev said. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)