Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

Ukrainian nuclear power plant shelled by Russia

The moment the nuclear power plant was hit

If Putin is losing the ground war in Ukraine and running out of troops, what other options does he have? The obvious fear is that he’d use nuclear weapons or attack Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. Last night, the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in Mykolaiv oblast, 300 km (200 miles) south from Kyiv, was struck, with more than 100 windows destroyed by the blast. Such plants are designed to withstand explosions although not missile attacks. The reactor was not hit and there (as yet) are no reports of any radioactive leakage.  

For nuclear plants to be shelled at all shows a dangerous turn of events. Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear company, has published photos of a crater four metres in diameter and two metres deep, together with a video of the attack, saying: ‘A powerful explosion occurred just 300 metres from the reactors’.

Svitlana Morenets
Written by
Svitlana Morenets

Svitlana Morenets is a Ukrainian journalist and a staff writer at The Spectator. She was named Young Journalist of the Year in the 2024 UK Press Awards. Subscribe to her free weekly email, Ukraine in Focus, here

Topics in this article

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in