Ukraine shelled Zaporizhzhia plant on Sunday, Russia says

(This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.)

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine had shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, the biggest in Europe, on Aug. 7, damaging high-voltage power lines and forcing the plant to reduce its output.

In its daily military briefing, the defence ministry said Ukraine had shelled the power station at around 12:40 p.m. (0940 GMT) from positions near the town of Marhanets.

The shelling damaged a high-voltage power line supplying electricity to the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions – parts of which are under Russian control – in southern Ukraine, the ministry said.

A power surge also occurred as a result of the shelling, Moscow said, triggering a safety system that cut off the power supply, it added.

Kyiv has denied attacking the plant. Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom said on Sunday that a worker had been wounded when Russian forces shelled the power station on Saturday evening.

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.

Russia also said it had reduced the output of two of the reactors to “prevent disruption”, and that fire crews had extinguished a source of smoke.

A Russian-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region had said earlier on Monday that the facility was working normally.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)