Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Ukraine's General Staff said on Tuesday that Russia used artillery and air strikes in the Zaporizhzhi...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Ukraine's General Staff said on Tuesday that Russia used artillery and air strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting near Europe's largest nuclear power plant has caused people to worry about a terrible nuclear accident.
The attacks happened before Ukraine's Independence Day on Wednesday, which is a celebration of the country's freedom from Soviet rule. Kyiv banned public celebrations because more attacks could happen.
In a statement, the U.S. embassy in Kyiv also said that Russia was planning to attack government and civilian infrastructure in the coming days.
Near the front lines in the south of the country, Ukraine said that Russia fired artillery and did air strikes in several towns in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Russian forces captured the nuclear power plant soon after they invaded on February 24.
On the south bank of the Dnieper River, artillery and rocket fire have been heard near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor complex. This has led to calls for the area to be demilitarized.
Nearby Ukrainians were afraid that a shell could hit one of the plant's six reactors, which would be a disaster.
"We are worried, of course... It's like sitting on a box of explosives "Alexander Lifirenko, who lives in the nearby town of Enerhodar, said on Monday.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, has said that Moscow could try "something especially ugly" in the days leading up to Wednesday, which is the 31st anniversary of Ukraine's independence and also marks half a year since Russia invaded.
Fearing more rocket attacks, the government of Kyiv has banned public celebrations of the country's independence day from Monday to Thursday. The capital is far from the front lines and has only been hit by Russian missiles a few times since March, when Ukraine stopped an attack on the ground to take over the capital.
Kharkiv, a city in the northeast that has been hit by frequent and deadly long-range artillery and rocket fire, will have a curfew from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday. This was announced by Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Russia's Federal Security Service said on Monday that Ukrainian agents killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultranationalist ideologue, in a car bomb attack near Moscow that President Vladimir Putin called "evil." This has caused more people to worry about attacks. Ukraine denies involvement.
Both sides have blamed the other for the frequent shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, where Kyiv says Russian troops are stationed and military equipment is kept. Russia says this is not true and says that Ukraine is sending drones to attack Zaporizhzhia.
Moscow asked for a U.N. Security Council meeting to be held on Tuesday to talk about the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to RIA, a Russian state-owned news agency, which quoted Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the U.N.
CIVILIAN TOLL
Russia started what it calls a "special military operation" on February 24 to get its smaller neighbor to stop using military force and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western backers say that Russia is fighting a war of conquest in the style of the old empires.
The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday that between February 24 and August 21, 5,587 civilians were killed and 7,890 were hurt, mostly because of artillery, rocket, and missile attacks.
Over the past six months of war, at least 972 children have been killed or hurt, according to UNICEF.
"Most of the child deaths have been caused by explosive weapons. When used in populated areas, like they have been in Ukraine, these weapons don't care if the person they kill is a civilian or a soldier "Catherine Russell, the head of the agency, said in a statement.
General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the head of the Ukrainian army, gave what seemed to be the first public death toll for the Ukrainian military. He said that nearly 9,000 soldiers had died in action.
Russia hasn't said how many of its soldiers have died. The General Staff of Ukraine thinks that 45,400 Russian soldiers have died so far.
