A Russian attack on Ukrainian power stations and other infrastructure Sunday caused widespread outages as Ukrainian forces launched a swift counteroffensive that drove Moscow’s forces from swaths of territory. At least one individual was killed in the fire that erupted at a power station on Kharkiv’s western outskirts due to the bombardment. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, condemned the “deliberate and pessimistic missile strikes” against civilian targets.

Ukraine’s forces have pressed a swift counteroffensive, removing Moscow’s troops from swathes of territory in the northeast that it had occupied. Their attack Sunday caused widespread outages throughout the country.#PowerStationsAttack #UkraineCounteroffensive #Zelensky #Russia pic.twitter.com/60Zt2A5m1m

— Live News Now (@LiveNewsNow6) September 12, 2022

A radiation disaster threatened Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the Russia-occupied south as fighting raged nearby, forcing the plant’s closure. Moscow had to withdraw its troops from Kharkiv recently due to Ukraine’s actions to reclaim Russia-occupied areas, leaving significant quantities of weapons and munitions as the war reached its 200th day yesterday.

General Valerii Zaluzhnyy, the Ukrainian military chief, said that its troops had retaken around three thousand square kilometers since they started the counteroffensive in early September. According to Zaluhnyy, Ukrainian forces are just fifty kilometers from the Russian border. Likewise, Oleh Syniehubov, the Governor of Kharkiv, said that the Ukrainian military recaptured over forty settlements in the region.

The Donetsk and Kharkiv regions appeared to bear the impact of the Russian troops Sunday’s night attack. The Ukrainian leader said that Sumy and Zaporizhzhia partially lost power after the attacks. As a result of the Kharkiv power outage, Mayor Igor Terekhov said he believed that the Russian aggressor had retaliated for the Ukrainian army’s successes at the front, particularly in Kharkiv.

The Ukrainian Power Plant on Fire

Several Ukrainian officials reported that Russia struck Kharkiv TEC-5, the country’s 2nd-largest heat, and power facility, and Zelenskyy posted a video of the Kharkiv power plant engulfed in flames. Despite Russian terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure, they remain terrorists. It was aimed at leaving people without light or heat, not military facilities,” he wrote on Twitter.

A few regions were able to regain power later in the evening. There was no indication that any outages were associated with the shutdown of the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia facility. However, as most attention was focused on the counteroffensive, Ukraine’s nuclear power company said its largest atomic plant, Zaporizhzhia, had been connected to Ukraine’s electricity grid. It allowed engineers to shut down the last reactor to protect it during the conflict.

During the early days of the war, Russian forces occupied the facility, one of the world’s ten biggest atomic power stations. Neither Ukraine nor Russia has taken responsibility for the shelling around it. The plant was running in “island mode” after a fire caused by shelling on September 5 knocked off transmission lines, leaving it increasingly vulnerable to a nuclear disaster.

Two experts are at the site of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which welcomes the return of external power. However, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi urged the IAEA to establish a safety and security zone around the plant “as long as the shelling continues.” He said dialogues have started on establishing such a zone around it.

French President Urged the Russian Forces Withdrawal

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday to withdraw troops and weapons from the facility following the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency. As a result of Moscow’s recent retreat, Ukrainian forces have scored their biggest combat victory since thwarting a Russian attempt to capture Kyiv early in the conflict. In anticipation of a counteroffensive in the south, Moscow had relocated many of its troops from the Kharkiv campaign to the south.

Kochevenko, a member of the 95th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, tweeted a video from the area of central Izyum. This city was considered a command and supply hub during the northern front of the Russian war. The entire area around us is destroyed, but everything will be restored. According to Kochevenko, Izyum was, is, and will be Ukraine,” he said in his video, which showed an empty central square and crumbling buildings.

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