Ukraine denounced Russian bombardments on the front line, including not far from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe and whose worrying situation will be discussed this Thursday by the UN Security Council.
In Nikopol (southeast), a hundred kilometers from the Zaporizhia plant, Governor Valentyn Reznichenko reported on Telegram three dead and nine wounded in Russian night bombings.
In Donbas (east), the head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, announced on Thursday the death of 11 civilians in the last 24 hours: six in Bakhmut, three in Soledar, one in Krasnogorivka and one in Avdivka. .
The Russian troops, who bombard Soledar relentlessly, try to expel the Ukrainian army from there in order to advance towards Bakhmut.
At Russia’s request, the UN Security Council will examine this Thursday afternoon the security situation at the Zaporizhia plant, occupied by its troops since March.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling areas near the plant last week. It has not been possible to independently verify these claims.
According to Ukrainian authorities, 13 people were killed in the Dniepropetrovsk region and one in Zaporizhia region, both in the east, in shelling near the plant on Tuesday night.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear safety regulator, Rafael Grossi, will report to the Security Council on the situation at that facility.
The IAEA said its report would detail how the bombing of the site last week “violated virtually all of the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear security” and would try to arrange an expert mission to the plant “as soon as possible.”
The group of the seven most industrialized countries (G7) demanded on Wednesday that “Russia immediately return to its legitimate sovereign owner, Ukraine, full control of the plant” and estimated that its occupation “endangers the region.”
Ukrainian operator Energoatom said on Tuesday that Russian forces are trying to establish a land connection between the Zaporizhia plant and Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Located near the city of Energodar, on the banks of the Dnieper River and not far from the Crimean peninsula, the largest plant in Europe has six of the 15 Ukrainian reactors, capable of supplying energy to four million homes.
On March 4, shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the facility came under the control of Russian troops.
– Ukraine “will not abandon” Crimea –
Ukrainian President Volodiimir Zelensky on Tuesday stressed the importance of the Crimean peninsula for Ukraine and reiterated that kyiv “will never abandon it.”
Powerful explosions ripped through an ammunition depot at a Russian military airfield in Crimea on Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding several others, and sending thousands of Russian tourists on vacation to the peninsula into panic. According to the Russian army, the deflagration was not due to any shooting or bombing.
Ukraine did not officially acknowledge responsibility for the incident, but a presidential adviser, Mikhailo Podoliak, said on Twitter on Tuesday that “this is just the beginning.” “Crimea’s future is to be a pearl of the Black Sea … not a military base for terrorists,” he said.
For its part, the Latvian parliament declared Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” on Thursday and considered its actions in Ukraine to constitute “genocide” against the Ukrainian people.
On the financial front, Ukraine’s creditors accepted a two-year moratorium on the payment of its foreign debt of 20,000 million dollars, given the severe impact of the Russian invasion on its economy.
“This allows Ukraine to maintain macro-financial stability and strengthen economic sustainability,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Twitter.
Ukraine’s GDP could increase by 45% this year, according to the latest World Bank estimates.
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