Heading towards World War III?

A senior US military official admitted on Monday that Ukrainian forces may have struck the area around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, but insisted that this was only in response to Russian fire allegedly coming from the area. Earlier in the day, the Russian authorities said a Ukrainian artillery shell damaged the roof of the building storing reactor fuel.

“What I know for sure is that the Russians are firing from around the plant,” the unnamed official told reporters during a background briefing at the Pentagon. “I also know that there are rounds that have impacted near the plant.”

The official said it was “hard to explain, I guess” how the US was monitoring the situation around the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.

“And I don't want to say that the Ukrainians haven't fired in that vicinity either because I think there's probably a likelihood that they have, but in good – in a number of cases, it's returning fire of the Russians who are firing from those locations,” he said.

Russian forces established control of the Zaporozhye NPP in early March. National guard and nuclear protection specialists secured the site while the Ukrainian staff continued to operate without hindrance. The government in Kiev claims that Russian forces turned the plant into a military base from which they were attacking Ukrainian targets, but also that Russian troops were shelling themselves in a false-flag ploy to make Ukraine look bad.

Ukrainian shelling damages roof of nuclear fuel storage – officialREAD MORE: Ukrainian shelling damages roof of nuclear fuel storage – official
The US official claimed “the Ukrainians are very aware of the potential impacts of striking the nuclear power plant and they're going out of their way not to do that.”

Moscow has provided evidence to the UN of repeated Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP and the nearby town of Energodar since July, using kamikaze drones and even US-supplied artillery. The latest attack came on Monday, when a round breached the roof of a building where fresh reactor fuel was being stored, a member of the local administration said.

On Sunday, a drone was shot down over the plant, while Ukrainian artillery strikes on Energodar injured nine civilian residents.

Kiev has demanded that Russia hand the Zaporozhye NPP back over to Ukrainian control, or at least demilitarize a 30-kilometer area around it. On Monday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also urged demilitarization, as well as a shutdown of the reactors. The US has previously echoed Kiev’s accusations that Moscow wants to “steal Ukraine’s electricity” by shutting down the plant or disconnecting it from the Ukrainian grid.

According to Russian nuclear experts, the biggest danger is not a reactor meltdown, but Ukrainian artillery striking the open-air spent fuel storage, which would result in a radioactive release.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi is personally leading the mission that is supposed to visit the plant this week.

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Just before leaving for the Zaporizhzhia plant, the chief UN nuclear inspector told journalists he was aware of the "increased military activity" in the area but they were pressing ahead with the visit anyway.

The gravest risks, Rafael Grossi said, would come as the convoy of armoured vehicles crossed the cratered fields of the "grey zone" where neither side’s military has control.

"Weighing up the pros and cons and having come so far, we are not stopping," he told journalists before leaving for the plant.

Grossi, who heads up the International Atomic Energy Agency, was speaking as Ukraine accused Russia of shelling Energodar, the town which neighbours the plant.

www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-62748668

Kiev sent commando groups in an attempt to capture the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant on Thursday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed.

There were two separate “sabotage groups” of up to 60 troops, which used seven boats to cross the Kakhovka Reservoir and land about three kilometers from the nuclear facility early in the morning, according to the statement. They attempted to capture the station from the Russian troops who are guarding it, the ministry said.

The Russian military said it took action to “destroy the enemy, including by deploying close air support aircraft.”

The ministry also claimed that about two hours after the landing of the commando forces, Ukrainian artillery started shelling a certain location near the city of Energodar, which hosts the power plant. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who are on their way to visit the facility, are scheduled to pass the area, according to the report.

“The provocation of the Kiev regime is aimed at derailing the arrival of the IAEA mission to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant,” the ministry said.

The plant and the city have been under Russian control since March. In August, the nuclear site was targeted by regular artillery and drone attacks, which Moscow and Kiev blamed on each other. Ukrainian officials also claimed that the Russian military was using the plant as a military base, stationing heavy weapons there. Moscow denied the accusations, stating that it only had lightly armed guards defending the facility.

The IAEA mission was dispatched this week after several delays. Moscow and Kiev both welcomed the visit and pledged to facilitate it, while each accused the other side of attempting to prevent inspectors from reaching the target.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog is expected to assess the situation on the ground, inspect the safety of the power plant, and verify that non-proliferation measures remain in place. The Zaporozhye facility is the largest of its kind in Europe and stores dozens of tons of enriched uranium and plutonium in its reactor cores and storage facilities, according to IAEA figures.

Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear operator, claimed on Thursday that Russia launched mortar strikes at the plant, causing the shutdown of one of its two currently operating reactors. Russian-allied local authorities also reported the shutdown, citing unconfirmed reports, but said it was Ukraine that attacked the facility. The plant is staffed by Ukrainian civilian workers despite being under Russian control.

www.rt.com/russia/561943-ukrainian-troops-seize-zaporozhye-nuclear-plant

At least three civilians were killed and one injured after Ukrainian troops shelled the city of Energodar in southern Ukraine, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported on Thursday, citing local officials.

Videos and photos posted on social media show clouds of smoke rising from the buildings.

The news comes as a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is heading to visit the embattled Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant located near Energodar.

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International organizations including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are “cowardly” and cannot be trusted, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said.

“I don’t like international institutions and mediation missions in general. They look extremely ineffective, extremely cowardly and extremely unprofessional,” Mikhail Podolyak said in an interview on Thursday evening.

This applies “not only to the IAEA”, but also to the UN, Amnesty International, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Ukrainian official claimed, adding: “By default, you should not trust them.”

Podolyak’s remarks came as he criticized the IAEA mission to the Russia-controlled Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which arrived earlier in the day. He expressed his low expectations from the mission, based on the positive remarks that Director General Rafael Grossi made after touring the facility in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian official said he was willing to give the IAEA inspectors the benefit of the doubt and wait for them make an official report that would “show the depth of their inner destruction”.

He explained his concerns, citing several aspects of Grossi’s visit. They include its relatively short duration, which Podolyak assessed was too short for a proper fact-finding mission. He also criticized the willingness of the IAEA chief to talk to a representative of the Russian atomic energy body Rosatom, who, Podolyak said, “delivered a strange long speech” to the UN official.

The IAEA experts arrived at the station from Kiev despite continued military action in its vicinity. Kiev and Moscow have accused each other of being behind the shelling and of trying to derail the inspection. Some members of the mission stayed behind to monitor the situation, while Grossi and others left.

Podolyak said the IAEA should blame Russia for attacks on the plant, and if their report fails to do so, only stating that inspectors witnessed evidence of strikes, his opinion about the organization will be vindicated.

President Vladimir Zelensky too has expressed skepticism about the IAEA visit to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. In a video statement on Thursday evening, he accused Grossi of failing to secure access to the station to “independent journalists”, who wanted to visit with the inspectors.

Russia has accused Kiev of trying to send intelligence agents under the guise of the press. The visit was covered by Russia-vetted journalists, whom Zelensky branded “a crowd of propagandists.”

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The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi has confirmed that damage had been done to the Russian-held Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine, but refrained from naming the guilty party.

“It’s obvious that… the physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times. By chance or by deliberation, we don’t have the elements to assess that, but this is the reality that we have to recognize,” Grossi told reporters after returning to Ukrainian-controlled territory on Friday.

“I worried, I worry and I will continue to worry about the plant until we have a situation that’s more stable, that’s more predictable,” he added.

Grossi, who headed the team of IAEA experts that arrived at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Thursday, said that he “saw a lot” during the visit, personally inspecting some of the “key areas” at the facility, including emergency systems, diesel generators and control rooms.

The atomic agency was “not going anywhere” from the plant now, he assured reporters, reiterating that the UN nuclear watchdog plans to establish a permanent presence at the facility.

The official also said that some experts from his team will remain at the station until Sunday or Monday to “dig deeper” and collect more data for the report.

Russia said that Ukraine has shelled the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and sent commandos to storm it on Thursday in a failed attempt to use the UN inspectors as “human shields.”

Grossi acknowledged that the security situation at the plant was “difficult” during his visit. “There were moments where fire was obvious – heavy machine gun, artillery, mortars,” he said, adding that on two or three occasions things got “very concerning” for the UN team.

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The Ukrainian military is suffering heavy casualties as it tries to retake territories seized earlier by Russian forces in southern Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said.

Speaking on Friday during a conference call at the ministry, Shoigu stated that “the Ukrainian armed forces’ attempts at an offensive continue on the Nikolaev-Krivorozsk and other directions, and the enemy is suffering considerable losses.”

The minister went on to allege that the counteroffensive had been planned by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s office “solely to create the illusion before the Western backers that the Ukrainian military is able to conduct an offensive.”

Shoigu also claimed that Russian forces had taken over a village in Kherson region and reached the administrative border with Nikolaev region.

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The Ukrainian military publicly admitted striking the area around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in an official General Staff briefing on Friday. Previously, Kiev had claimed that Russian forces used the plant as a military base; now it says all troops have relocated due to the visit by IAEA inspectors.

“In the areas of the settlements of Kherson and Energodar, accurate strikes by our troops destroyed three enemy artillery systems, as well as an ammunition depot and up to a company of personnel,” said the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the daily briefing.

The military also claimed that, due to the arrival of the IAEA inspection team, the Russian “occupiers removed all military equipment from the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. About 100 units moved to the plant ‘Atom Energomash’ and the rest were dispersed in the nearest settlements.”

Energodar and the Zaporozhye facility have been under Russian control since early March, and functioned without problems until drone and artillery attacks began in July. Kiev has argued that the shelling was a false-flag operation by Moscow to make Ukraine look bad, but also that Russia was using the plant as a base for heavy artillery and equipment.

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As Kiev has banned journalists from the frontlines of the ‘offensive’ in Kherson Region, the Washington Post sent a reporter to a hospital in the rear area, where wounded Ukrainian soldiers told a harrowing tale of fighting against the odds. Wednesday’s piece about plucky underdogs who just need more weapons, ammunition, and equipment appeared just ahead of a US-led meeting of Ukraine’s arms suppliers in Ramstein, Germany.

Soldiers with “severed limbs, shrapnel wounds, mangled hands and shattered joints” told the Post about the “lopsided disadvantages” the Ukrainian army faces on the Kherson front. The Russians have more and better artillery, drones that can fly with impunity a kilometer high, and counter-battery radars that can call fire on Ukrainians’ heads within minutes, according to the US outlet.

Russian troops even hack and hijack Ukrainian drones, which “drift away helplessly behind enemy lines,” the paper said.

“We lost five people for every one they did,” Igor, a 30-year-old platoon leader with a back injury, told the Post.

“When we turn on mobile phones or radio, they can recognize our presence immediately,” another soldier named Denis said. “And then the shooting starts.”

“They were just hitting us all the time,” said Aleksandr, who had lost an arm in the fighting. “If we fire three mortars, they fire 20 in return.”

After months of talking up a counter-offensive to retake Kherson and even Crimea, Kiev launched an attack last week. The Russian military estimates more than 15,000 Ukrainian troops are involved in the operation, but have already taken thousands of casualties. On Wednesday, Ukrainian troops “made no offensive actions” on that front due to losses, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a briefing.

While Kiev claims it has taken several villages, its claims could not be verified because journalists have been banned from the front. According to the Post, some of its reporters came within five kilometers of Visokopolye on Monday, but were stopped by Ukrainian troops and “could not ascertain its status.”

Kiev is “hoping that the Kherson counteroffensive will boost national morale and demonstrate to Western governments that their billions of dollars in economic and military assistance is paying off,” the Post said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew to Germany on Wednesday, in preparation for the meeting of the ‘Ukraine Contact Group’ – a coalition of countries that pledged weapons, ammunition and other support to Kiev – at Ramstein on Thursday.

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As Defense News.com reported, the most recent $3 billion package, which marks the single largest tranche since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine six months ago, includes six more of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems with additional ammunition. Last month, the U.S. committed to two of the systems, developed by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace as well as American company Raytheon Technologies.

As your taxpayer dollars are laundered with Ukrainian lives, weapons companies and politicians are rolling in dough. As for where the weapons are ending up, that’s left to be determined. Earlier this month, CBS news put out a documentary in which it stated that the majority of shipments of weapons to Ukraine from the US had been going missing.

thewashingtonstandard.com/as-americans-are-fleeced-for-billions-for-ukraine-ukraine-parliament-gives-themselves-70-raise

CBS tweeted on Monday that it had removed a a video promoting the documentary that included a months-old quote saying most aid was not making it to Ukraine's front lines.

www.businessinsider.com/cbs-partially-retracts-ukraine-docuemtnary-alleging-missing-us-weapons-2022-8