Ukraine is preparing for a nuclear explosion at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, and the situation there continues to be extremely dangerous, according to Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik.
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of a major threat at the plant and asserted that Russia was technically capable of starting a localised explosion, Ms Rudik has expressed rising concern at the situation unfolding at the nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.
Moscow has said it has no plans to harm or sabotage the plant.
In an interview with Sky News Ms Rudik struggled to understand how such a scenario could arise in the twenty-first century, with Ukraine preparing for a nuclear catastrophe while the rest of the world stands by helplessly.
She said: “I still cannot process that in the 21st century, this is what is happening. We are preparing for a nuclear explosion and the whole world is watching and there is nothing that can be done.”
She also pointed out that it is unprecedented for Russia to deny UN representatives access to certain portions of the plant, preventing them from conducting inspections there.
Ms Rudik further emphasised the severity of the situation by expressing his profound worry that an incident like the Kakhovka dam collapse last month could be repeated.
She thought that Russia was using the alleged threat of an attack as leverage and a way to frighten other nations.
Ms Rudik told Sky News: “This is why it cannot be said ‘we need more time, we need to look further’.”
After a period of relative calm, Russia carried out a drone attack on Sunday targeting Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, marking the first such attack in 12 days, according to officials.
Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv city administration, stated that all of the Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones were detected and successfully shot down.
The attack not only focused on the city itself but also extended to the surrounding Kyiv region.
Ruslan Kravchenko, the governor of the Kyiv region, reported that one individual sustained injuries from debris caused by a destroyed drone.
Officials in Kyiv did not provide a precise count of the number of drones involved in the attack.
However, Ukraine’s air force confirmed that a total of eight Shaheds and three Kalibr cruise missiles were launched by the Russians across the country.
In a separate incident further south, a 13-year-old boy was wounded due to overnight shelling in Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Kherson province.
Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, spokesperson for the Ukrainian administration of the province, stated that the child was injured when the Russian army shelled the village of Mylove situated on the banks of the Dnieper River in the Beryslav district.
“The child was hospitalised, there is no threat to his life,” Tolokonnikov said on state TV.
