Ukraine and Russia have exchanged accusations in the recent numerous incidents of shelling of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russian troops captured the station at the beginning of the war.
“Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the factory or shoots using the factory as a cover must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence officers, for our special services, for our army,” Zelensky said in an evening address.
Zelensky, who did not provide any details, repeated accusations that Russia is using the station as nuclear blackmail.
The G7 countries called on Moscow to withdraw its troops from the power plant.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency previously warned of new Russian “provocations” around the plant, while the exiled mayor of the city where the plant is located said the plant was again under Russian fire.
But local Russian official Uladzimir Rogov wrote in Telegram that Ukrainian forces are shelling the plant.
The adviser to the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podoliak, accused Russia of “striking the part of the nuclear power plant that produces energy that supplies the south of Ukraine.”
“The goal is to disconnect us from (the station) and blame it on the Ukrainian army,” Padalyak wrote on Twitter.
The Defense Intelligence Agency said that Russian troops placed a Pion self-propelled howitzer outside a nearby town and hung a Ukrainian flag on it.
The agency also said Thursday’s strikes on the plant, which Ukraine said damaged water supply infrastructure and a fire station, came from the Russian-controlled village of Vadyanoe, about seven kilometers (4.35 miles) east of the plant. .
