Ukrainian Military Targets Russian Soldiers Shooting at Nuclear Power Plants

Ukrainian soldiers take positions in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine

Kiev - The Ukrainian military is targeting Russian soldiers firing on occupied nuclear plants in the country's south or using them as bases for firing. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Saturday (13/8/2022).

"Any Russian soldier who fires at a (nuclear plant) factory, or shoots using a factory as cover, must understand that he is a special target for our intelligence agencies, for our special services, for our soldiers," Zelensky said in an evening address. .

Zelensky, who did not provide any details, repeated accusations that Russia was using the plant as a nuclear extortion. The Group of 7 (G-7) countries have asked Moscow to withdraw its troops from Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Ukraine's defense intelligence agency had earlier warned of new Russian "provocations" around the plant, while the exiled mayor of the city where the factory is located said it had come under renewed attack from Russia.

But the Russian-installed local official, Vladimir Rogov, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian troops opened fire on the factory. Meanwhile, Ukraine's presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of "hitting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that powers Ukraine's south is generated." "The aim is to disconnect us from (the factory) and blame the Ukrainian army for this," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Service said Russian forces had parked the Pawn self-propelled howitzer outside a nearby town and had a Ukrainian flag mounted on it. The agency also said that Thursday's attack on the plant's territory, which Ukraine said damaged the infrastructure of a water pump and fire station, had been carried out from the Russian-held village of Vodiane, about 7 km east of the plant.

Ukraine and Russia have exchanged accusations over several recent shooting incidents at the Zaporizhzhia facility, Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Russian troops seized the station early in the war.