Zaporozhye

Ukraine blew up Kakhovka dam as revenge for failed offensive – Kremlin

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From RT
6-6-23

The act of sabotage may lead to “very serious consequences,” Dmitry Peskov has warned

Ukrainian forces sabotaged the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in Russia’s Kherson Region in a bid to deprive Crimea of drinking water and distract from Kiev’s faltering counteroffensive, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed on Tuesday.

The dam was partially destroyed early on Tuesday morning, sending torrents of water downstream and flooding towns and villages along the path of the Dnieper River. 

“We are talking about a deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side,” Peskov told reporters. “This sabotage could potentially lead to very serious consequences for several tens of thousands of inhabitants of the region, environmental consequences and consequences of a different nature, which have yet to be established.”

Peskov claimed that one of the key goals of the attack was to deprive Crimea of water. Crimea’s 2 million residents largely receive their water from the North Crimean Canal, which is fed from the reservoir above the Kakhovka dam.

“This sabotage is also connected with the fact that, having launched large-scale offensive operations two days ago, the Ukrainian armed forces are not achieving their goals,” Peskov continued. Russia’s Defense Ministry has said it repelled several large-scale attacks in the southern sector of the front in recent days. These “offensive actions are choking,” Peskov stated.

Ukrainian officials and their European backers have accused Russia of blowing up the dam, with European Council President Charles Michel calling the attack “a war crime.” Moscow “strongly rejects” the accusation, Peskov said.

While the flooding now makes it difficult for Ukrainian forces to cross the Dnieper and attack Russia’s defensive lines, the destruction of the dam also appears to aid a number of Ukraine’s key objectives. The flooding mostly threatens the eastern bank of the river, where Russian troops withdrew to last year amid concerns that the Ukrainian military would blow up the dam. 

With the dam destroyed, the level of the Dnieper has fallen further upstream, including at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Ukrainian troops made several attempts to cross the river to recapture the plant from Russian forces last year, and lowering the water level would remove a major obstacle to future attempts. Additionally, the Soviet-era plant depends on water from the Dnieper to cool its reactors and its spent fuel rods. 

The Ukrainian military conducted a test strike on the dam using an American-supplied HIMARS launcher last year, Ukrainian General Andrey Kovalchuk told the Washington Post in December. 

Two months earlier, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, warned the UN Security Council that Kiev’s forces were considering a “reckless” attack on the dam with sea mines or missiles. “The authorities in Kiev and their Western backers will bear full responsibility for all the consequences of such a devastating scenario,” Nebenzia cautioned. 

https://www.rt.com/russia/577573-ukraine-destroyed-kherson-dam/

Also

https://www.rt.com/russia/577548-kakhovskaya-hydroelectric-dam-breach/
https://www.rt.com/russia/577555-city-novaya-kakhovka-flooded-mayor/

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230606/fact-check-who-attacked-novaya-kakhovka-dam-1110946820.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230606/scott-ritter-kakhovka-dam-attack-designed-to-cure-wests-ukraine-fatigue-1110958667.html

Moscow’s basic terms for a peace deal with Kiev; Ukraine continues attacks on Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant

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From Startegic Stability
May 28, 2023

1. Russia outlined conditions for a peace accord

The Ukraine conflict could be settled if Kiev were to re-commit to its neutral status, recognize “new territorial realities,” and declare Russian as a state language, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview released on May 28. He is convinced that a peace settlement will be possible only if the Ukrainian Armed Forces cease aggression against Russia, and Western weapons shipments to Kiev are stopped completely.

Galuzin added that to achieve a durable peace, Kiev must return to a non-aligned status and refuse to join NATO, recognize the “new territorial realities” that emerged after people in Ukraine exercised their right to self-determination in 2014 and 2022.

The diplomat was referring to Crimea and four former Ukrainian regions that overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in public referenda, respectively, in 2014 and 2022.

Deputy Foreign Minister noted that another crucial element of any peace settlement is Kiev’s commitment to respect the rights of the country’s Russian-speaking population and other ethnic minorities. “Russian should be designated as a state language at the legislative level. It is necessary to ensure that basic human rights, including freedom of faith, are observed in Ukraine,” he stressed.

On May 28, Mikhail Podoliak, an aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, dismissed Moscow’s conditions, issuing Kiev’s own list of demands. Those include the immediate withdrawal of all Russian troops from territory Kiev claims as its own, the creation of a “buffer zone” on Russian territory, as well as voluntary renunciation of Russian assets seized in other countries in favor of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that while Moscow does not want the Ukraine conflict to be frozen, there are no prerequisites for a peace settlement yet, pointing out that Kiev has prohibited any talks with the current Russian leadership.

2. Russia expects its sanctions to follow against Kiev

Ukraine’s “puppeteers” in London and Washington start begin to concern themselves with mental stability of top officials in Kiev and Russia hopes that sanctions against the Ukrainian leadership will follow over the threats against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview published on May 27.

“I have no doubts that the puppeteers in Washington and London begin to concern themselves with how mentally stable these people are,” the Minister said. “I hope that sanctions will follow against these so-called officials. All statements that it is necessary to kill all Russians, wherever they are – that was said both by [Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Advisor Mikhail] Podolyak and [National Defense and Security Council Secretary Alexey] Danilov – and now personal [threats] against a leader of a sovereign state, the Russian Federation – is the most serious thing.”

Lavrov also stated that Ukraine is a terrorist state, with its authorities “driving themselves into this quality.”

Commenting on the threats against the Russian leadership, Lavrov underscored that a word has been uttered, and the West must bear responsibility for these words.”.

3. Rogov: Kiev is plotting new provocation at ZNPP

Ukraine is plotting a provocation at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to put the blame on Russia and cut short the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, Vladimir Rogov, leader of the We Are Together With Russia movement, told TASS on May 26. “Ukraine is announcing this strike in order to accuse us – and this is obvious, so that IAEA inspectors are not present [at the station] any longer,” he said, commenting of allegation by the Ukrainian defense ministry’s main intelligence directorate that Russia was hatching a provocation at the nuclear facility.

He noted that tensions around the Zaporozhye NPP have been growing in recent time. “Moreover, the rotation of the IAEA experts [at the ZNPP] has been postponed again. Vasilyevka is under shelling all the time: they are using artillery, HIMARS [multiple rocket launchers], and so on. Plus, an attempted terror attack on a journalist from federal mass media in Enerhodar to demonstrate that the situation in the city is too bad to visit it,” Rogov said.

Kiev is drawing attention to this topic, which means that it “is really plotting something,” he said. “Bearing in mind that they have both Grom-2 and Storm Shadow, and other weapons they can use, if the announce that, it is highly likely that they already have a scenario, he added.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, told TASS earlier on Friday that Ukraine had once again derailed the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) due to take place on May 26 following a postponement. In his words, no date has been appointed as of yet. The ninth team of IAEA experts was to arrive at the ZNPP on May 25. According to Karchaa, Kiev has once again demonstrated the lack of interest in ensuring nuclear security as the Ukrainian authorities are indulging in “shady games, which have no relations to nuclear energy.”

Despite all massive Kiev’s military provocations and artillery shelling of the ZNPP, the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi since February 2022 has not made any critical remarks on continuous Ukrainian nuclear blackmail Involving NPP, prohibited by the international law.

President Putin on signing of treaties on accession of Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia

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From the Kremlin
September 30, 2022

A ceremony for signing the treaties on the accession of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Zaporozhye Region and the Kherson Region to the Russian Federation took place in of the Grand Kremlin Palace’s St George Hall.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Citizens of Russia, citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, deputies of the State Duma, senators of the Russian Federation,

As you know, referendums have been held in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The ballots have been counted and the results have been announced. The people have made their unequivocal choice.

Today we will sign treaties on the accession of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye Region and Kherson Region to the Russian Federation. I have no doubt that the Federal Assembly will support the constitutional laws on the accession to Russia and the establishment of four new regions, our new constituent entities of the Russian Federation, because this is the will of millions of people. (Applause.)

It is undoubtedly their right, an inherent right sealed in Article 1 of the UN Charter, which directly states the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.

I repeat, it is an inherent right of the people. It is based on our historical affinity, and it is that right that led generations of our predecessors, those who built and defended Russia for centuries since the period of Ancient Rus, to victory.

Here in Novorossiya, [Pyotr] Rumyantsev, [Alexander] Suvorov and [Fyodor] Ushakov fought their battles, and Catherine the Great and [Grigory] Potyomkin founded new cities. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought here to the bitter end during the Great Patriotic War.

We will always remember the heroes of the Russian Spring, those who refused to accept the neo-Nazi coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, all those who died for the right to speak their native language, to preserve their culture, traditions and religion, and for the very right to live. We remember the soldiers of Donbass, the martyrs of the “Odessa Khatyn,” the victims of inhuman terrorist attacks carried out by the Kiev regime. We commemorate volunteers and militiamen, civilians, children, women, senior citizens, Russians, Ukrainians, people of various nationalities; popular leader of Donetsk Alexander Zakharchenko; military commanders Arsen Pavlov and Vladimir Zhoga, Olga Kochura and Alexei Mozgovoy; prosecutor of the Lugansk Republic Sergei Gorenko; paratrooper Nurmagomed Gadzhimagomedov and all our soldiers and officers who died a hero’s death during the special military operation. They are heroes. (Applause.) Heroes of great Russia. Please join me in a minute of silence to honour their memory.

(Minute of silence.)

Thank you.

Behind the choice of millions of residents in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, is our common destiny and thousand-year history. People have passed this spiritual connection on to their children and grandchildren. Despite all the trials they endured, they carried the love for Russia through the years. This is something no one can destroy. That is why both older generations and young people – those who were born after the tragic collapse of the Soviet Union – have voted for our unity, for our common future.

In 1991 in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, representatives of the party elite of that time made a decision to terminate the Soviet Union, without asking ordinary citizens what they wanted, and people suddenly found themselves cut off from their homeland. This tore apart and dismembered our national community and triggered a national catastrophe. Just like the government quietly demarcated the borders of Soviet republics, acting behind the scenes after the 1917 revolution, the last leaders of the Soviet Union, contrary to the direct expression of the will of the majority of people in the referendum of 1991, destroyed our great country, and simply made the people in the former republics face this as an accomplished fact.

I can admit that they didn’t even know what they were doing and what consequences their actions would have in the end. But it doesn’t matter now. There is no Soviet Union anymore; we cannot return to the past. Actually, Russia no longer needs it today; this isn’t our ambition. But there is nothing stronger than the determination of millions of people who, by their culture, religion, traditions, and language, consider themselves part of Russia, whose ancestors lived in a single country for centuries. There is nothing stronger than their determination to return to their true historical homeland.

For eight long years, people in Donbass were subjected to genocide, shelling and blockades; in Kherson and Zaporozhye, a criminal policy was pursued to cultivate hatred for Russia, for everything Russian. Now too, during the referendums, the Kiev regime threatened schoolteachers, women who worked in election commissions with reprisals and death. Kiev threatened millions of people who came to express their will with repression. But the people of Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson weren’t broken, and they had their say.

I want the Kiev authorities and their true handlers in the West to hear me now, and I want everyone to remember this: the people living in Lugansk and Donetsk, in Kherson and Zaporozhye have become our citizens, forever. (Applause.)

We call on the Kiev regime to immediately cease fire and all hostilities; to end the war it unleashed back in 2014 and return to the negotiating table. We are ready for this, as we have said more than once. But the choice of the people in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson will not be discussed. The decision has been made, and Russia will not betray it. (Applause.) Kiev’s current authorities should respect this free expression of the people’s will; there is no other way. This is the only way to peace.

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Prelim results for referenda: majority voted to join Russia; U.S. weapons shell residential areas; Kiev continues shelling Zaporozhye

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From Strategic Stability

Report # 146. Breaking news: The majority voted to live in Russia

September 27, 2022

1. The majority of voters in four regions expressed their wish to live in Russia

Four separate referenda held in two independent republics in Donbass and in two regions in southern Ukraine, namely Kherson and Zaporozhye Oblast or Regions between September 23-27 ended at 16:00 hours local time on September 27th, 2022.

According to preliminary results (with 15% of ballot papers counted by 17:00 Moscow time) overwhelming majority of voters have OKeyed admission of all these regions to the Russian Federation as equal subjects.

All referenda have been recognized as valid. They have witnessed very high level of participation of voters despite permanent heavy shelling of the residential areas in all four regions by heavy weapons, including the U.S.-made MLRS HIMARS, by Armed Forces of Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter, the OSCE decisions and the EU basic principles.

The preliminary results in full will be announced on September 28th, and final results – some days later.

Such fantastic returns ran counter to Mrs Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister’s allegations, who in a Marcus Lanza’s TV program have disseminated false information about the referenda by claiming that the voters are shot, they are raped, and then they have to put crosses for three days while soldiers with Kalashnikovs [assault rifles] in their hands stand next to them.

Where she has got this false information? Nowhere. Such cases have not been recorded during the referenda. More than 200 foreign observers who have arrived to these regions have not confirmed such false allegations. And no local citizen has lodged any respective complaint, by the way.

The German Ambassador in Moscow should be summoned to the Russian MFA to give explanations why Baerbock has used such unverified propaganda with a very bad smell. She has undermined her political carrier by many coarse and unverified false statements earlier.

This is one more and the latest vivid example of her wrong behavior. Shame that she still represents Germany as the head of the German diplomatic service.

2. Why the majority of citizens in four named regions have voted for joining Russia?

No long arguments and explanations – there are plenty of them to catalogue them here. No time. Later. Just official figures:

In LPR

Since 2014 till February 24, 2022:

killed – 1771 (here and in all other cases atrocities have been done by Armed Forces of Ukraine);
wounded – 3350;
children killed – 38;
children wounded – 91;
social infrastructure buildings destroyed – more than 7200;
social infrastructure buildings damaged – more than 26000

Since February 24 till September 23, 2022:

killed – 91;
wounded – 292;
children killed – 7;
children wounded – 26;
social infrastructure buildings destroyed – 252;
social infrastructure buildings damaged – 2846.

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Kiev continued shelling residential areas during referenda; international observers — referenda conducted lawfully

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From Strategic Stability

Report # 145. Despite barbaric Ukrainian shelling, four referenda go on

September 25,2022

1. Four referenda are conducted in a democratic way

Four separate referenda started on September 23, 2022 in four regions uncontrolled by Ukraine, namely in Donetsl and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as in Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions where the majority of populations expressed their wish join the Russian Federation as equal subjects (the slogan displayed at the public rally on the picture runs: We are together with Russia”)

Such referenda that are permitted by international law will end on September 27. Final results will be announced the next day. If the majority of voters say positive to the accession with Russia, the Russian State Duma, the lower house of Parliament will pass its decision to the President who is understood will sign a decree on the admission of all four regions to Russia. It may happen on September 30, 2022.

During last two days since the beginning of the referenda so far nearly 55% of voters participated in them in the DPR, 46% in LPR, 36% in Kherson Region and 32% in Zaporozhye Region. It has been announced by four referenda commissions by 17:30 Moscow time on September 25. The referenda commissions predicted that by evening September 27 around 80-90% of voters would take part in these events.

Locals are explaining their desire to participate in the referenda by noting: “Ukraine killed us, while Russia defended us. Do you see the difference?”

International observers (there are 179 of them in Donbass only) who came to all these territories are noting that the referenda are conducted in accordance with the international law and European standards. Voters can cast there will freely and without any intimidation from local authorities.

Unfortunately, Armed Forces of Ukraine or AFU controlled by a neo-Nazi regime implanted in Kiev continued shelling residential areas in all four regions intending to disrupt these will-expression process in violation of the UN Charter, OSCE and ODIHR principles (The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights). It is irrelevant that the UNO, OSCE and ODIHR have said no single word of criticism about such cruelty and barbarism during the days when referenda are being held. What for they are paid?

Kiev also sent several saboteur groups to stop referenda. All teams have been eliminated.

The DPR representative office in the Joint Coordination and Ceasefire Commission or JCCC reported that on September 23 there have been 55 instances of shelling by the AFU and 297 rounds of ammunition were fired. In the Donetsk direction, the enemy used 155mm and 152mm artillery. In the Yasynuvata direction – artillery of 155 and 152 mm. On the Gorlovka direction – Grad MLRS, artillery of 155, 152 and 122 mm, tanks, 120 mm mortars have been used,

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Ukraine resumes shelling Zaporozhye nuclear plant after IAEA visit; Russia stops AFU sabotage attempt

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Strategic Stability

Report # 137. Kiev resumed ZNPP shelling after the IAEA team visit

September, 4, 2022

1. AFU again attacked ZNPP and Energodar city

Local authorities in Zaporozhye reported renewed shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP (ZNPP) by Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) after the IAEA head Rafael Grossi’s visit there was over. Ukrainian artillery targeted ZNPP and the city of Energodar once again, local military-civilian Administration member Vladimir Rogov said on September 2 night.

Four rounds impacted the area of plant, Rogov announced in midnight on September 2, with at least one heavy projectile exploded between reactors # 2 and # 3, while three struck about 400 meters to the east.

The shelling has cut the main power line along the Dnepr river, so the ZNPP had to divert emergency power for its own operational needs. After the attack all electricity supplies from ZNPP to the rest of Ukraine stopped.

Around 20 Ukrainian shells hit Energodar city where ZNPP is located.

The renewed attack came after the departure of the main International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, which visited the plant on September 1. However, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told reporters the same day that six of the agency’s experts stayed behind in Energodar. Four of them will return after the weekend and two will remain “permanently” there at the plant, Grossi clarified after returning to Vienna.

“If something happens or if any limitation comes, they are going to be reporting it to us. It’s no longer a matter of A said this and B said the contrary,” Grossi noted. “For those who may have intentions on the plant, knowing that international inspectors are there, witnessing and informing immediately what is happening, has, I think, an inherent very important stabilizing effect.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Staff admitted for the first time that it were “troops uncontrolled by Kiev” that have shelled the area of ZNPP.

However, such allegation is false, because “troops uncontrolled by Kiev” do not possess and therefore cannot use against ZNPP and Energodar the U.S.- made M777 howitzers or attack drones fitted with HE.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu: “There have been 29 Ukrainian attacks against ZNPP since July 18, involving 120 artillery shells and 16 kamikaze drones”.

The USA and NATO/the EU never have criticized Zelensky for such nuclear terrorism

2. AFU sent another sabotage groups to capture ZNPP

On September 2, at about 11.00 PM (Moscow time), two groups of a total of 42 motor boats with over 250 Ukrainian servicemen from Special Operations Forces and foreign mercenaries on board made an attempt to disembark at the shore of Kakhovka Reservoir near Energodar and Dneproprudnoye.

Their main mission was to capture ZNPP where the IAEA left its six inspectors to conduct additional monitoring and report back to its HQ in Vienna.

The other task was to remove Russian National Guard units from the plant, and to use it as a much deadlier nuclear blackmail source

In this case the latest attacking force was four times as larger that AFU group that tried to attack ZNPP September 1 that has been nearly totally destroyed by Russian National Guard units maintaining security at the nuclear power plant.

The Ukrainian manpower sailing on September 2 was attacked by four Su-30 and two Ka-52 helicopters of Russian Aerospace Forces that has resulted in the elimination of 20 boats. The rest of the vessels turned back and headed towards the Ukrainian coast.

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Ukrainian troops shell Zaporozhye nuclear plant, cause fire and power outage

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From Strategic Stability

Report # 117. By hitting its NPP Kiev pursues ‘nuclear terrorism’ policy

August 6, 2022

1. Moscow: Ukraine risking another Chernobyl by hitting its NPP

Russia has urged the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to make Ukraine stop the “shelling” of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (NPP) in Zaporozhye. Moscow accused Ukrainian troops of firing artillery shells at the Zaporozhskaya NPP in the country’s southern Zaporozhye Region on August 4.

The plant was seized by Russian forces in late February, when Moscow launched its Special Military Operation (SMO) in the neighboring country. The facility continues to operate with Ukrainian staff under Russian control.

Igor Vishnevetsky, a senior non-proliferation and arms control official at the Russian Foreign Ministry, warned that the shelling of the plant risks triggering an event similar to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster caused by Ukrainian operators at the plant. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, “parts of the equipment” at the plant are out of power due to the shelling, and a fire broke out at the facility and was quickly put out. The ministry claimed that “by sheer luck,” the Ukrainian shells did not cause a bigger fire and “a possible nuclear disaster.”

The ministry said that Ukrainian troops also shelled the adjacent city of Energodar, causing power outages and disruptions of water supply.

“We would like to appeal to international organizations, especially to the UN and the IAEA, as well as to the countries that have influence on the Kiev regime, so they would take action in order to make the shelling of the nuclear power plant stop immediately”, Russian diplomat said.

The ministry called on the international community to condemn Ukraine for “the acts of nuclear terrorism.”

In order to prevent the IAEA officials to visit the Zaporozhskaya NPP with inspection President Zelensky ordered to shell this NPP several times.

2. Humanitarian situation

Russian MoD continues to record numerous facts of criminal actions by Kiev regime against civilians, as well as the use of social infrastructure for military purposes by Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU):

a) in Novaya Vodolaga, Kharkov Region, AFU stronghold have equipped in the building of Lyceum No. 3 (Grigoriya Donets Street), with roadblocks and firing points set up on the approaches to the educational institution, while no local residents were evacuated from nearby residential buildings;

b) in Slavyansk, Donetsk People’s Republic, Ukrainian armed formations have equipped firing positions and sniper points in the training buildings and dormitory of a technical college (Tsentralnaya Street), and neo-Nazis are holding residents of nearby houses in the premises, using them as human shields;

c) in Varvarovka, Nikolaev Region, territorial defence units are stationed at the children’s music school (Odessa highway), an ammunition warehouse has been set up and the approaches to the school have been mined, but the population has not been deliberately informed of this.

In addition, in Seversk (Yamskaya Street) and Soledar (Svobody Street), Donetsk People’s Republic, Ukrainian nationalists have equipped firing positions with heavy artillery and MLRS in private households, from which they systematically shell units of the Russian Armed Forces in order to provoke retaliatory fire. The Kiev authorities plan to use these cynical provocations in the near future to accuse Russian servicemen of allegedly indiscriminate strikes against civilians, followed by extensive coverage in the Ukrainian and Western media.

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Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant radioactive release and emergency shutdown

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From Fort Russ

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ
11th April, 2016
 
A radioactive release and emergency shutdown of unit 6 occurred at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.  Management of the State Emergency Service requested people not to panic, but to calmly take preventive measures:
“For preventive measures State Emergency Service experts recommend to refrain from a prolonged stay in an open area within three days, to use a medical mask, use a weak solution of iodine in cold water and red wine”.
Vladimir Rogov, the leader of the Zaporizhia “Slavic Guard” writes:
These Nazi brutes are doing everything to turn all post-Ukraine space into an exclusion zone!
Meanwhile, $700 million was allocated from the budget of Ukraine for the repair and modernization of power units №1 and №2 of Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant – the junta stole more than $420 million. Moreover, in the corruption scheme, in addition to the so-called “Minister” of Energy and Coal Industry, Vladimir Demchishin, and the “President” of “Energoatom” that participate directly, there are also “President” Poroshenko and the leaders of the American company Westinghouse who are implementing the corruption schemes through its Swedish subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB.
Quote: “…the excess background radiation at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant and the sanitary protective zone in a radius of 2.5 km is about 10 times and is not critical to the health of the population. Repair work will be tentatively held until 13th April.”

Expert: Ukrainian nuclear energy decision could lead to “Chernobyl disaster”

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From Fort Russ

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ
 23rd February, 2016
The refusal of Russian fuel cells and the use of American equivalents at the Ukrainian atomic power stations has already led to an accident at the South-Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
An expert on atomic energy, Alexander Igonin, commented on this on the website “Ukraine.ru”. “The technological inconsistencies of American nuclear fuel and Soviet reactors has already led to accidents at nuclear power plants in Finland, Czech Republic and Ukraine. Despite the official statement that the South-Ukrainian NPP “is all within the normal range”, an unscheduled stop of the reactor is a serious incident, describing the technical state of the station” — he said.
Igonin also noted that the Kiev regime has significantly increased the risks of accidents at Ukrainian nuclear power plants. “The Zaporozhye and South-Ukrainian NPP are the first stations where the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers, before the end of the year, decided to start using exclusively American nuclear fuel. According to experts, such a move significantly increases the risk of incidents similar to Chernobyl“, — stated the expert.
He reminded us that in future the Ukrainian authorities intend to make a transition to American nuclear fuel across all operated nuclear power station, with more than a dozen working reactors.
Earlier it was reported that the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant (NPP) disconnected its third turbine due to technical problems.

Ukrainian nuclear waste is stored in open air, 120 miles from front line

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Note: the unlabeled picture of fire below is of the recent Chernobyl fire.

Posted on Global Research
From RT

Serious concerns have been raised by experts and environmentalists over the ‘shocking’ way spent nuclear fuel is being stored at Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, just 200km away from the front line in Donbass.

More than 3,000 spent nuclear fuel rods are being stored in the open air in metal casks close to the perimeter fence at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in conditions that have shocked environmentalists, The Guardian reports.

Nuclear experts say the waste should have another secondary containment structure, such as a building with a roof.

“With a war around the corner, it is shocking that the spent fuel rod containers are standing under the open sky, with just a metal gate and some security guards waltzing up and down for protection. It is unheard of when, in Germany, interim storage operators have been ordered by the court to terror-proof their casks with roofs and reinforced walls,” Patricia Lorenz, a Friends of the Earth nuclear spokeswoman who visited the plant on a fact-finding mission, told the paper.

Although the front line is for now too far away from the nuclear plant to be at any risk, the potential consequences of the conflict engulfing the power station is major worry to locals.

The memory of the Chernobyl explosion in the north of Ukraine 30 years ago, which poisoned vast tracts of land, is still fresh in many people’s minds.

“Given the current state of warfare, I cannot say what could be done to completely protect installations from attack, except to build them on Mars,” said Sergiy Bozhko , the chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU).

The current Zaporizhia nuclear fuel storage unit was built to a US design and did involve testing to withstand a terrorist attack.

However a dry storage container with a bomb resilient roof and contained ventilation system would offer much greater protection.

However this would be impossible to build on the current site and it would have to be constructed somewhere else nearby and then all the nuclear casks would have to be moved inside at even greater expense.

“It is obvious that if you do not have an array of dry cast [interim] [dry cask?] stores with secondary containment around it, then that will have a greater risk of release of radioactive material,” said Antony Froggatt, a senior research fellow and European nuclear specialist at Chatham House, London.

Although sources at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) told The Guardian that any request for funding for such a structure would be seriously considered. The bank has already made 300 million euros available to extend the lifespan of Ukraine’s ageing nuclear plants.

Since the conflict in Donbass has severely limited the supply of Russian gas, Ukraine’s reliance on its 15 Soviet-era reactors has increased by 10 percent; the country now gets 60 percent of its energy from nuclear power.

Nuclear energy is one area where Ukraine and Russia still cooperate, and Ukraine still depends almost entirely on Russia’s Rosatom for enriched uranium.

But in the long term Ukraine aims to diversify its nuclear fuel contract between the US company Westinghouse and European companies as well as Rosatom.

But deals with Westinghouse and the French company Areva are still sketchy and market diversification will be slow.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/ukrainian-nuclear-waste-stored-in-open-air-200km-from-warzone/5449617

Also:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/06/nuclear-waste-stored-in-shocking-way-120-miles-from-ukraine-front-line