Explosions were recorded in Kiev on Thursday morning, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitscho, said after several recorded attacks in the country.
“Explosions in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital. All services [de emergência] move to the place”said Klitschko on social media, referring to an area in the south of the city.
The mayor also reported another explosion in the western part of the Ukrainian capital, which injured at least two people.
“Another explosion in the capital. Sviatochyne district. [Serviços de] Help on the way to the site. In the courtyard of a residential building, two vehicles are on fire.”wrote Klitschko on the Telegram social network, specifying that two people from that neighborhood had been injured and hospitalized.
⚡️A video showing the aftermath of the Russian attack on the Sviatoshynskyi neighborhood of Kiev on the morning of March 9.
Two people were injured in the attack by missile fragments, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv Oblast’s military administration.
Suspline Media pic.twitter.com/Tk3bwLlIJS
– The Kiev Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 9, 2023
According to Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synegubov, 15 rockets in eastern Ukraine hit Kharkov and the northeastern region, hitting residential buildings.
In addition to Kharkiv, regional energy infrastructure and residential buildings were also hit in Odessa in the south of the country, Governor Maksym Marchneko said, describing a “massive rocket attack”.
“Fortunately, we have not registered any casualties,” the official stated, adding that “restrictions on the supply of electricity” had been activated.
“The second wave is now expected, so I urge the residents of the region to stay in shelters,” Marchenko wrote on the Telegram social network about two hours ago.
In the west, Khmelnytskyi region governor Segiy Gamaliy urged residents to “stay in shelters” as “the enemy is attacking the country’s vital infrastructure”.
Preventive emergency power cuts were applied in the Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odessa regions, supplier DTEK said. Klitschko estimated that 15% of the capital’s energy consumers were left without power due to the emergency shutdown.
More explosions were reported in the town of Chernigiv in the north and west of Lviv, as well as in the towns of Dnipro, Lutsk and Rivne. Ukrainian media also reported explosions in the western regions of Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil.
Russia has been bombarding Ukraine with massive rocket attacks since October last year. Initially, weekly attacks on energy infrastructure took place and entire cities were plunged into darkness, becoming less frequent over time. The last attack took place on February 16.
Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began on February 24 last year.
Risk of “accident with radioactive consequences”
Also after a Russian attack, the Zaporijia nuclear power plant, occupied by the Russian army in southern Ukraine, was without connection to Ukraine’s power grid, said the plant’s operator on Thursday, warning of the risk of an accident.
“The last line of communication between the occupied Zaporijia nuclear power plant and the Ukrainian power grid has been cut due to missile strikes” Russians indicated in a statement to Energatom that emergency diesel generators guarantee the minimum power supply to the plant.
“Currently, the plant (…) is in ‘blackout’ for the sixth time since occupation, the reactors of units 5 and 6 have been shut down”added Energatom.
The operator of the power station stated that 18 emergency generators guarantee the minimum supply of the power station.
“You have enough fuel for 10 days. The countdown has begun”he underlined.
“If it is not possible to renew the external power supply of the power plant, an accident may occur with radioactive consequences”warned the operator.
The Russian army occupied this huge nuclear complex in the south of Ukraine on March 4, 2022, nine days after the start of the invasion.
The plant, which produced 20% of Ukraine’s electricity, continued to function despite bouts of bombardment in the first months of the invasion. Production was halted in September.
Since then, none of the six VVER-1000 reactors, dating back to Soviet times, have produced energy, but the plant remains connected to the Ukrainian energy system and uses the electricity it produces for its needs.
Earlier, the Ukrainian nuclear operator had warned that the shutdown of the plant would lead to “a possible deterioration of all control systems and equipment”, with Energatom raising concerns about the “risk of a nuclear accident” in the event of a rupture of the nuclear plant . last high-voltage line connecting the plant to the Ukrainian energy system.
Source: DN
