Russian forces have struck Enerhodar, the city where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located, the chief of staff of the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Telegram.
He made the claim alongside a video of firefighters putting out burning cars. “They provoke and try to blackmail the world”, Andriy Yermak is quoted as saying.
Ukraine’s military earlier reported shelling of nine other towns on the opposite side of the Dnipro River.
Russian forces are also alleged to have hit homes in the main city of Zaporizhzhia, which is about a two-hour drive from the plant, and the city of Orikhiv further east.
Russia has issued “counter-claims”, saying that nine shells fired by Ukrainian artillery landed on the plant’s grounds.
Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said: “At the moment, full-time technical personnel are monitoring the technical condition of the nuclear power plant and ensuring its operation.”
“The radiation situation in the area of the nuclear power plant remains normal”.