KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine is targeting Russian soldiers who fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant or use it as a base from which to fire, as G7 countries fearing a nuclear disaster called on Moscow to withdraw its forces from the plant. Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over multiple bombing incidents at the Zaporizhzhia facility in southern Ukraine. Russian troops occupied the station early in the war. “Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant or shoots using the plant as cover must understand that he is becoming a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our military,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in afternoon talk on Saturday. Zelensky, who did not elaborate, repeated allegations that Russia was using the plant as nuclear blackmail. The plant dominates the southern bank of a huge reservoir on the Dnipro River. Ukrainian forces controlling the towns and cities on the opposite bank have come under heavy shelling from the Russian side. Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of “hitting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that supplies the south of Ukraine is produced.” “The goal is to disconnect us from (the plant) and blame it on the Ukrainian military,” Podoliak tweeted. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is seeking to inspect the plant, has warned of nuclear disaster unless the fighting stops. Nuclear experts fear the fighting could damage the plant’s spent fuel tanks or reactors. UN chief Antonio Guterres called for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhia facility, which is still managed by Ukrainian technicians. Kyiv has said for weeks that it is planning a counteroffensive to retake Zaporizhzhia and neighboring Kherson provinces, the largest swath of territory seized by Russia after its February 24 invasion and still in Russian hands. The story continues Russian and Ukrainian forces earlier fought for control of Chernobyl, the still-radioactive site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, also raising fears of a catastrophe. RUSSIA REINFORCES SOUTHERN FORCES Russia’s priority last week was likely to reorient units to bolster its campaign in southern Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Sunday. Russian-backed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in the eastern Donbass region continued to attack north of the city of Donetsk, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its daily Twitter briefing. Particularly heavy fighting was concentrated in the village of Pisky, near Donetsk airport, it said. Ukraine’s military command said on Saturday that “fierce fighting” continued in Pisky, an eastern village over which Russia had earlier claimed full control. The British military said the Russian offensive was likely aimed at securing the M04 motorway, the main approach to Donetsk from the west. UKRAINE SHIP SIKIRUS Two more ships carrying grain left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Saturday, Turkey’s defense ministry said, bringing to 16 the number of ships to depart under a UN-Turkey deal at the end of July aimed at partially alleviating the global food crisis. Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry announced on Saturday that 16 ships carrying 450,000 tons of agricultural products had departed from Ukrainian seaports since early August under the agreement, which ensured safe passage for the ships. The UN-chartered ship MV Brave Commander will leave Ukraine for Africa in the coming days after it finishes loading more than 23,000 tonnes of wheat at the port of Pivdennyi, a UN official said. The ship, bound for Ethiopia, will be the first shipment of humanitarian food aid to Africa since the start of the war, amid fears that the loss of Ukrainian grain stocks could lead to outbreaks of famine. Zelensky said that in less than two weeks, Ukraine had managed to export the same amount of grain from three ports as it had done by road for all of July. Ukraine hopes to increase its seaborne exports to over 3 million tonnes of grain and other agricultural products per month in the near future. Ukraine and Russia are major grain exporters. The blockade of Ukrainian ports has trapped tens of millions of grains in the country, raising fears of severe food shortages and even outbreaks of famine in parts of the world. THE DIPLOMATIC rift IS DEEPENING Russia’s invasion, which it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “neutralize” its smaller neighbor, has pushed Moscow-Washington relations to a low point, with Russia warning it may cut ties. The United States has led Ukraine’s Western allies in supplying it with weapons to defend itself and sanctions against Moscow. A senior Russian official on Friday said that Moscow had told Washington that if the US Senate passed a law designating Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, diplomatic relations would be severely damaged and could even be severed. On Saturday, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official warned that any seizure of Russian assets by the United States would completely destroy bilateral relations, TASS reported. Alexander Darchiev, head of the ministry’s North American department, was quoted as saying that US influence in Ukraine has grown to the extent that “the Americans are becoming more and more a direct part of the conflict.” The United States and Europe, wary of being dragged directly into war, have refused Ukraine’s request to establish a no-fly zone to help protect its skies from Russian missiles and warplanes. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kiev and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by William Mallard)
