Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant says Ukraine again attacks substation

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The management of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had launched a new attack on a nearby electricity substation, destroying a transformer.

The Zaporizhzhia station, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian forces in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side regularly accuses the other of attacking or plotting to attack the plant.

The plant’s management, writing on Telegram, said an artillery strike had hit the transformer at the “Raduga” substation in the town of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine.

It described the incident as “yet another terrorist act aimed at destabilising the situation in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s satellite city”.

Also posted was a photograph showing smoke billowing from the top of a building. It said power supplies to Enerhodar had not been interrupted.

The plant’s management accused the Ukrainian military on September 20 of attacking a second substation in Enerhodar. The following day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha accused Russia of planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter.

He provided no detailed explanation.

Power lines to the Zaporizhzia plant have been cut on several occasions, increasing the chance of a blackout that could cause a nuclear accident.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stationed monitors permanently at the plant and urged both sides to refrain from all attacks on it.