As the operator of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station issued a warning about the possibility of a radioactive leak at the nuclear facility, Ukraine and Russia traded new claims of shelling at the site.
In order to identify explosive hazards underwater, the UK will provide Ukraine with a total of six minehunting drones, according to the British defence ministry.
The battlefield account could not be independently verified by Reuters, and Kyiv did not immediately respond to the allegation.
The shelling near the plant, which on Thursday started fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal power station and cut the plant off from the electrical grid, has been attributed to both Russia and Ukraine.
According to the Russian defence ministry, it destroyed a sizable munitions storage facility in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine that held US-made HIMARS rocket systems and shells for M777 Howitzers.
According to the ministry’s daily briefing, the Russian Air Force shot down a MiG-29 in the eastern Donetsk region and damaged six additional missile and artillery weapons depots in the Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions. According to Ukraine’s southern military command, a Ukrainian airstrike in the Kherson region damaged a Russian air defence system, although previous raids had rendered the Antonivskyi and Daryivskiy bridges impassable to heavy trucks.
According to Ukraine’s state energy operator, there is a possibility of a radioactive leak at the largest nuclear power station in Europe, Zaporizhzhia, which is now seized by Russian forces.
Energoatom said that throughout the course of the previous day, Moscow’s forces had “repeatedly shelled” the plant site in southern Ukraine, while the Russian defence ministry put the blame on Ukraine’s forces.
According to the British defence ministry, Ukraine will receive six underwater drones to help clear its shoreline of mines and ensure the safety of grain supplies. The ministry added in a statement that the Royal Navy has started educating Ukrainian sailors on how to operate sonar-powered subaquatic minehunter drones, which they hope would enable them to eliminate threats from Ukraine’s waterways. According to the Turkish Ministry of National Defense, three more ships have departed Ukrainian ports as part of the Istanbul grain export agreement.
