Russia-Ukraine War Live News: Moscow Plans to Connect Zaporizhia NPP to Crimea, Operator Warns | Ukraine

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was not responsible for the explosion at a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday, suggesting partisans may have been involved.

Asked by the Dozhid Online TV channel whether Kyiv was taking responsibility, Mikhail Podryak replied: what do we have to do with this?

Previously, he appeared to suggest that the strike could herald a new phase in the conflict.

Podlyak said Kyiv’s long-term goal is “demilitarization of the Russian Federation”. He added: Crimea The Pearl of the Black Sea, a national park with unique nature and world resorts. It’s not a terrorist military base. It’s just the beginning. ”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it was unable to determine the cause of the explosion, but ironically said that people should respect fire safety rules and “a ban on smoking in unspecified places.” added.

At least one person has been killed after several massive explosions damaged a Russian air base deep in Crimea’s front lines.

Multiple social media videos showed an explosion Clouds rose from the Saky military base in Novofedryvka on the west coast of Crimea on Tuesday afternoon, raising questions about how the attack could have been more than 100 miles (160 km) from the front lines.

The Russian Defense Ministry told the RIA Novosti news agency that “several air ammunition detonated” in the storage area. It is not clear whether it was targeted by Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes.

Russian tourists can be seen vacationing on nearby beaches walk away scaredThe peninsula, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, is one of the few times the recent fighting has directly affected it.

The Russian-appointed head of occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said one person had died.he used to shoot Video statement near the sitesaid smoke rose in the distance and paramedics and medics were at the scene.

Russian forces occupy the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the southeast Ukraine It is preparing to connect a plant to Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014, and is hurting it by redirecting power generation, Ukrainian operator Energoatom warned.

Zaporizhia is the country’s largest nuclear power plant. Europe Occupied by Russia early in the invasion.

Energoatom president Petro Kotin told Reuters: Russia A technically challenging process that requires the facility to be disconnected from the Ukrainian system before being gradually connected to the Russian system.

Their plan is to damage all lines from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. After that, it will not be connected to the Ukrainian power system, ”he said.

Kotin also told a Ukrainian television station: Interfax News agency:

Russian troops present at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant have the following programs: [Russian operator] Rosatom was intended to connect the plant to the Crimean power grid.

To do this, we must first damage the power lines of the plant, which are connected to the Ukrainian energy system. On 7-9 August, Russian forces had already damaged three of his power lines. The factory currently operates with only one production line and is a very dangerous way of working.

When the last production line is cut, the factory is powered by a diesel-powered generator. Everything then depends on reliability and fuel inventory. ”

Cotin warned that the process of powering down the power plant in preparation for a connection with Russia would be extremely dangerous.

In ZNPP, We are already very close to the first stage of Fukushima Daiichi, because there is only one line. As soon as the power is turned off, the power plants switch to diesel, and after that everything depends on the reliability of their work and the sufficiency of fuel for the ZNPP’s diesel engines. ”

Kotin also spoke CNNreiterated his claims that the Russians’ ultimate plan was to disconnect the plant from the power supply to Ukraine and connect it to the grid to supply power to occupied Crimea.

If it is not connected to the grid, it cannot be powered externally and the diesel generator will start. But everything depends on the reliability of these generators. … This is a dangerous situation. If they stop, there could be a disaster of melting nuclear material,” he said, comparing the potential fallout to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident.

If the situation worsens, we will have to think about the population of the factory. We are planning how we can evacuate personnel during wartime.

A large amount of radioactivity can be released from it. There may be clouds, radioactive clouds. ”

Located not far from Crimea, the power plant houses six of Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors and is capable of supplying four million homes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday raised the specter of a nuclear disaster after a strike on a nuclear power plant.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that any attack on a nuclear power plant would be “suicidal”.

“I hope these attacks will end and at the same time I hope the IAEA will be able to access the factory,” he said on Monday.

Recent fighting around nuclear power plants has prompted the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to warn of a “very real risk of nuclear disaster”.

Welcome to The Guardian’s live coverage of war. Ukraine.

I’m Samantha Rock. We’ll bring you all the latest developments for the next short time.

Ukraine denied responsibility for the explosion at a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said, suggesting partisans may have been involved.

Meanwhile, Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine are preparing to connect the plant to Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014, by redirecting power generation. Ukrainian operator Energoatom warned.

It’s 7:30 am in Ukraine. Here’s everything you might have missed:

• A Russian air base deep in Crimea’s front line Damaged by several large explosions, killing at least one person. It was not immediately clear whether it had been targeted by a Ukrainian long-range missile strike. In his nightly speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not say who was behind the attacks, but vowed to “liberate” Crimea. Ukraine And against a free Europe as a whole, it must start and end in Crimea – with its liberation. suggested that it may have

• The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear company warned of a ‘very high’ risk from shelling at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-occupied south Energoatom chief Petro Kotin said in an interview with Reuters that last week’s Russian shelling of the Zaporizhia power plant said three power lines connecting Ukraine’s power grid had been damaged. Russia I wanted to connect the facility to the grid.

• Estonian and Finnish leaders want European countries to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizenssaid they shouldn’t be able to take vacations in Europe while the Russian government is waging war in Europe UkraineEstonian Prime Minister Kaja Karas wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: Europe It’s a privilege, not a human right,” the Associated Press reported. “It’s time to end tourism from Russia now.”

• US President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a document supporting Finland and Sweden’s NATO membershipThis is the most significant military alliance expansion since the 1990s in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

• The US State Department has approved aid worth $89 million to help Ukraine equip and train 100 teams to clear landmines. A year of unexploded ordnance, according to Reuters.

• The total number of grain carriers leaving Ukrainian ports under a UN-brokered deal to alleviate the global food crisis has now reached 12.the two newest ships, which left on Tuesday, were bound for Istanbul and Turkey.

• Russia’s Kaliningrad Baltic enclave suffers from EU-imposed quotas on sanctions The governor of the region confirmed that it can be imported from mainland Russia and Belarus to all of Lithuania. Lithuania infuriated Moscow in June by banning land transport of concrete, steel and other goods to Kaliningrad after EU sanctions on such goods took effect, according to Reuters.

• Russia launches satellite from Iran Kazakhstan Among the concerns, it could be used for battlefield surveillance in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Iran has denied that the Khayyam satellite, which was put into orbit on a Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, will not come under Russian control.However The Washington Post previously reported According to two US officials, Moscow has told Tehran that it has “plans to use satellites for several months or longer to enhance surveillance of military targets” in Ukraine.