A senior Ukrainian official has denied Russian accusations that his nation’s army launched exploding drones at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which the Kremlin’s forces have been occupying and running in southern Ukraine since shortly after the war began more than two years ago.
Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Main Intelligence Directorate spokesman Andrii Yusov said there had been no attack, adding that Russian forces routinely fabricate strikes on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
However, the strikes on this occasion were confirmed by UN’s atomic watchdog agency, although it did not attribute responsibility for the attack to either side.
Photo: Reuters
The plant has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and seized the facility shortly afterward.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has frequently expressed alarm about the facility amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.
The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.
The IAEA on Sunday confirmed drone strikes on one of the plant’s six reactors, causing one casualty.
The IAEA team did not observe structural damage to the “systems, structures and components” important to the nuclear safety of the plant, it said.
The team reported superficial scorching to the top of a reactor dome.
The damage “has not compromised nuclear safety, but this is a serious incident [with the] potential to undermine [the] integrity of the reactor’s containment system,” the IAEA wrote on social media.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the main reactor containment structures took at least three direct hits.
“This cannot happen,” he wrote.
Zaporizhzhia is one of four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, said Russian authorities are seeking “to use Russia’s physical control over the [plant] to force international organizations, including the IAEA, to meet with Russian occupation officials to legitimize Russia’s occupation of the [plant] and by extension Russia’s occupation of sovereign Ukrainian land.”
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
RSS