Ukraine: Moscow and the UN discuss the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

Published on: 08/15/2022 – 22:54 The security of the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant, under Russian control in the south of Ukraine, where it is targeted by bombardments, was the center of a telephone discussion on Monday between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and UN chief Antonio Guterres. The safety of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia in question. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres discussed on Monday August 15 by telephone the security of this plant, under Moscow control in southern Ukraine, where it is “Sergei Shoigu conducted telephone negotiations with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres regarding the conditions for safe operation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. a statement. The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, had been taken in early March by Russian troops, at the start of their large-scale offensive in Ukraine, launched on February 24. Since the end of July, several strikes, including the two sides accuse each other, have targeted the site, raising fears of a nuclear disaster and prompting a meeting of the UN Security Council last Thursday. Kyiv accuses Moscow of using the plant as a base for an attack ue and deposit of material. Supported by its Western allies, Ukraine is calling for the demilitarization of the area and the withdrawal of forces from Moscow. A Wagner base targeted the men are accused of fighting alongside Russian troops, and destroying a bridge near the occupied southern city of Melitopol. According to the governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, the base of the private military company, in the town of Propasna, was “destroyed by a precision strike”. The shooting took place on Sunday, Serguiï Gaïdaï said on Telegram. Very opaque, the Wagner group is reputed to be linked to the Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigojine, himself considered to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The presence of its fighters has been confirmed in recent years in Syria, Libya, Mali and other African countries. Bridges destroyed The Ukrainian authorities also claimed that pro-kyiv saboteurs managed to blow up a railway bridge near the Russian military-occupied town of Melitopol in a fresh effort to disrupt Moscow’s troop logistics.”One less rail bridge southwest of Melitopol means a complete absence of military trains from Crimea” , peninsula annexed in 2014 by Russia and essential to the supplies of the Russian army, announced on Telegram the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov. Ukraine has targeted several bridges in recent weeks, mainly in the occupied region of Kherson (south ), where kyiv says it is carrying out a counter-offensive that has made it possible to retake dozens of villages and now threaten Russian troops who have crossed the Dnieper River. In the Odessa region (south), on the Black Sea, tro is holidaymakers were killed Monday and two others injured while swimming on a beach in Zatoka, a popular seaside resort, by the detonation of an “unknown explosive device”, a spokesman for the regional authorities announced on Telegram. , Serguiï Bratchouk. And in the morning, Russian bombardments on Kharkiv (north-east), the second city of the country, made a death, indicated on Facebook a senior official of the local police, Serguiï Bolvinov. bombsIn the Donetsk region (east), where the forces are currently concentrating their assault after having taken almost all of the neighboring region of Luhansk, “the situation remains tense” and “the front line is under bombs”, has regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a video posted on his Telegram channel. “Sloviansk was shelled overnight. And practically every day Bakhmut, Siversk and Soledar are bombed,” he continued. “Mariinka, Krangogorivka and Avdiivka are also constantly bombed. Almost three quarters of the region’s population was evacuated. It still remains a quarter of the population.” At the end of July, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had announced that the evacuation of the Donetsk region was compulsory, particularly in anticipation of winter, the destruction of the gas distribution networks risking deprive housing of heating. With AFP