According to an official deployed in Russia, Ukrainian drones are attacking a town near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

– A Russian-based official said Saturday that Ukrainian attack drones had again struck Enerhodar, a town near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, after drones struck two of the town’s electrical substations earlier in the week.

Eduard Senovoz, the highest-ranking official in Enerhodar, said on Telegram that two drones exploded in a residential area on Saturday, injuring one resident. Another drone was shot down.

In attacks on Enerhodar, a few kilometers from the nuclear power plant, on Wednesday and Friday, one of Enerhodar’s substations was destroyed and the other damaged, he said. Most residents were left without electricity.

An official at the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant with six reactors, initially reported that it was not affected by the military actions.

But the broadcaster’s Russian management said on Telegram on Saturday, before the latest drone attacks, that some “infrastructure facilities,” including the transport department and the printing plant, had experienced disruptions following the attacks earlier this week.

Nuclear safety measures remain fully functional, it said.

Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the incidents and Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the attacks revealed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disregard for nuclear safety.

“Given the complete inability of the Zelensky regime to negotiate anything, our country will take all necessary measures to deny the Kiev regime any means of carrying out such attacks,” Zakharova said on the ministry’s website.

Russian troops occupied the Zaporizhia power plant in the first days of the invasion in February 2022, and Moscow and Kyiv have since regularly accused each other of endangering security in the area. No electricity is currently being generated there.

Russian news agencies quoted Yevgeny Yashin, communications director of the Zaporizhia power plant, as saying that the damaged substation in Enerhodar could be repaired.

Russia launched massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the first winter of the conflict and resumed a long series of attacks in March.

Kyiv says the renewed attacks have paralyzed half of Ukraine’s energy production capacity and led to power outages.

Officials said Russian missiles and drones damaged energy facilities in southeastern and western Ukraine on Saturday, injuring at least two energy workers and leading to record electricity imports.

Ukraine has increased its use of drones to attack Russian oil facilities this year.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications.