Russia has accused Ukraine of finishing up a drone assault on a nuclear plant that has brought on a hearth and harm to an auxiliary transformer as Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day for the thirty fourth time.
Sunday’s assault pressured a 50 % discount within the working capability at reactor quantity three on the Kursk Nuclear Energy Plant (NPP), near the border with Ukraine, in response to Russian officers, who added that a number of energy and power services have been focused within the in a single day strikes.
The hearth on the nuclear facility was rapidly extinguished with no accidents reported, the plant’s information service stated on Telegram. Two different reactors are working with out energy era, and one is present process scheduled repairs, it stated, including that radiation ranges have been regular.
Alexander Khinshtein, the Kursk area’s performing governor, stated Ukrainian assaults on the plant, 60km (38 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, “are a risk to nuclear security and a violation of all worldwide conventions”.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog on Sunday confirmed regular radiation ranges close to the nuclear plant.
“Monitoring confirms regular radiation ranges close to Kursk NPP,” the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company stated in a submit on X.
Russia and Ukraine have additionally accused one another of assaults on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant in southeastern Ukraine and warned they might set off a nuclear accident. The nuclear plant – Europe’s greatest – is below Russian management.
In western Russia’s Leningrad area, firefighters responded to a blaze on the port of Ust-Luga, dwelling to a serious gasoline export terminal. The regional governor stated about 10 Ukrainian drones have been shot down and the particles ignited the hearth.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence stated its air defences intercepted a complete of 95 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory in a single day into Sunday.
Russia fired 72 drones and decoys together with a cruise missile into Ukraine in the identical time interval, Ukraine’s air pressure stated. Of those, 48 drones have been shot down or jammed, it stated.
Ukraine’s Independence Day
The incidents occurred as Ukraine marked its Independence
Day, commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered remarks in a video tackle from Kyiv’s Independence Sq., emphasising the nation’s resolve.
“We’re constructing a Ukraine that may have sufficient power and energy to dwell in safety and peace,” Zelenskyy stated whereas calling for a “simply peace”.
“What our future can be is as much as us alone,” he stated in a nod to the United States-Russia summit in Alaska this month, which many feared would go away Ukrainian and European pursuits sidelined.
“The world is aware of this. And the world respects this. It respects Ukraine. It perceives Ukraine as an equal,” he stated.
Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Zelenskyy for “obstinately insisting, setting situations, demanding a direct assembly in any respect prices” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov additionally accused Ukrainian authorities of “makes an attempt to disrupt the method that was laid down by Presidents Putin and [Donald] Trump [of the US], which has yielded superb outcomes”.
“We hope that these makes an attempt can be thwarted,” he stated, accusing Western nations of making an attempt to “block” peace negotiations to finish the Ukraine battle after a flurry of diplomatic exercise appeared to stall.
On Friday, Lavrov stated “no assembly” between Zelenskyy and Putin was deliberate. The Trump administration has been making efforts to organise a gathering between Zelenskyy and Putin to discover a answer to the battle.
Amid the diplomatic efforts, preventing continued on the entrance strains in jap Ukraine, the place Russia claimed on Saturday that its forces had seized two villages within the Donetsk area.
In the meantime, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Kyiv on Sunday morning for conferences with Zelenskyy.
“On this big day – Ukraine’s Independence Day – it’s particularly essential for us to really feel the assist of our mates, and Canada has at all times stood by our facet,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of employees, stated.
Norway introduced vital new army assist on Sunday, pledging about 7 billion kroner ($695m) for air defence techniques.
