10 Sep 2023 at 00:05
NU.nl regularly gives you an overview of the situation in Ukraine. This time: fears for nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant now that numerous explosions have been heard there. Pieces of a Russian drone have also been found in NATO territory.
Romanian soldiers have again found pieces of a suspected Russian drone on the Romanian side of the lower Danube River.
Local media report that it happened again near Plauru. This is a hamlet located on the Danube and opposite the Ukrainian river port of Izmail.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has called it an unacceptable violation of national airspace and called NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg about it. According to Iohannis, the population of the border region is in danger. Wreckage of drones was also found last Wednesday. It may have been a Russian reconnaissance drone.
I strongly condemned this violation of our sovereign air space, which is a threat to 🇷🇴 citizens in the area. @NATO SecGen expressed full solidarity of the Alliance & of the Allies with Romania, which is fully protected & benefits from the highest security guarantees in history.
— Klaus Iohannis (@KlausIohannis) September 9, 2023
NATO has not yet seen a targeted attack on its own territory
NATO does not see it as a targeted attack on the territory of its member states. Russia often bombards Ukraine’s river ports now, which have become very important.
There has been a lot of shipping traffic since the international agreement that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural products from, for example, the port of Odesa, despite the war across the Black Sea, was canceled by Russia in July.
Important Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea are therefore unusable. But the river ports, approximately 200 kilometers south of Odesa, are still in use, partly due to their proximity to Romania. Ships going to those ports do not have to pass through Russian waters and sail from the Bosphorus past Bulgaria and Romania.
Romania is now taking measures to protect the population on the Ukrainian border. The government wants to build fallout shelters against any new threats from the air. In addition, there will be a new air raid warning system.
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Warning that nuclear safety is under pressure at nuclear power plant
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warns of possible threats to nuclear safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Numerous explosions have been heard there in the past week. The United Nations nuclear watchdog has placed many experts close to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. According to reports, there is no damage to the nuclear power plant.
“No matter what happens in a conflict zone, everyone loses in a nuclear accident. And I insist that all necessary precautions are taken to prevent this from happening,” said IAEA President Rafael Mariano Grossi.
IAEA head Rafael Mariano Grossi visiting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in June. Photo: AFP
Ukraine reports dozens injured in rocket attack on police station
A Russian rocket attack on a police building in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, has left dozens of victims, authorities in Ukraine report. A police officer was killed, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. According to the latest reports, more than seventy people have been injured.
Regional authorities reported damage to almost eighty buildings. Kryvyi Rih is located in southern Ukraine and is the birthplace of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russia also attacked the Odesa region with drones for the fifth time this week, according to Ukraine. Some of the drones were reportedly shot down. The southern Odesa region contains ports that were used for the export of grain and other agricultural products. Since the expiration of the grain deal in mid-July, because Russia no longer wants to cooperate, attacks have regularly taken place on the Ukrainian port infrastructure.
2:16Play button
Zelensky knows why counter-offensive is slow
Zelensky acknowledges that the Ukrainian armed forces are increasingly having difficulty in the fight against Russia. He also says it will become more difficult to obtain weapons and impose new sanctions on Russia. The battle would have gone better with heavier weaponry.
“The war is slowing down. That is true, we recognize that. All processes are becoming more difficult and slower, from sanctions to arms deliveries,” the Ukrainian president said. The country has been engaged in a counter-offensive for three months, but has not yet been able to report any major successes.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine is mainly affected by Russian supremacy in the air. “If we’re not in the air and Russia is, they’ll stop us from the air. They’ll counter our counteroffensive,” the president said. According to him, the answer lies in weapons that are more powerful and have a longer range.
1:46Play button
Russia calls giving special ammunition to Kyiv ‘criminal act’
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov calls the US’s intention to supply depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine a “criminal act”. The Pentagon announced this week that it would supply such ammunition for American-made Abrams tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Depleted uranium ammunition has a very high density, which makes it easier to penetrate the armor of tanks, for example, but is also controversial because particles released by the slightly radioactive ammunition can cause serious health problems if they are inhaled.
Ryabkov stated that the US is escalating the conflict in Ukraine by supplying the ammunition. The Americans would thus put pressure on Russia and bring the two nuclear powers “to the brink of direct conflict”.
The United Kingdom started supplying depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine earlier this year.
A Ukrainian tank on training. Photo: AFP
2023-09-09 22:05:00
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