Ukraine’s Atomic Energy Organization painted an ominous picture of the threat on Sunday, issuing a forecast map of where radiation could spread from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russian forces have been taking control of since the start of the war. Attacks were reported over the weekend not only on Russian-controlled territory next to the plant along the left bank of the Dnieper River, but along the Ukrainian-controlled right bank, including the towns of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers (six miles ) from the facility. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces attacked the plant twice in the past day and that shells fell near buildings that store reactor fuel and radioactive waste. “One projectile fell in the area of the sixth power unit and the other five in front of the sixth unit’s pumping station, which provides cooling for this reactor,” Konashenkov said, adding that radiation levels were normal. The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency also said Sunday that radiation levels were normal, that two of the six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia plant were operating, and that while a full assessment had yet to be made, recent fighting had damaged a water pipeline after it was repaired. In another apparent attack on Sunday, Russian forces shot down an armed Ukrainian drone targeting one of the Zaporizhzhia plant’s spent fuel storage areas, a local official said. Vladimir Rogov, a regional official based in Russia, said on the Telegram messaging app that the drone crashed into the roof of a building without causing significant damage or injuries. Nearby, heavy gunfire overnight left parts of Nikopoli without electricity, said Valentin Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Rockets damaged a dozen homes in Marchanets, according to Yeven Yevtushenko, head of the district administration that includes the city of about 45,000 people. The city of Zaporizhzhia, about 40 kilometers up the Dnieper River from the nuclear plant, also came under Russian fire, damaging dozens of apartment buildings and houses and injuring two people, city council member Anatoly Kurtev said. Russian forces hit a Ukrainian air force helicopter repair shop in Zaporizhia, Konashenkov said. Neither side’s claims could be independently verified. Across the river from the nuclear plant, Ukrainian missiles hit the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant and the nearby town three times on Sunday, said Vladimir Leontyev, head of the local administration based in Russia. The factory dam is an important road along the river and a potentially key supply route for Russia. The dam forms a reservoir that supplies water for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The radiation map released by Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom showed that based on wind forecasts for Monday, a nuclear cloud could spread to southern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. The release of the map may have been intended to warn that if Russian forces were responsible for a radioactive leak, their country would suffer. In the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, radiation spread from Ukraine to many neighboring countries. Authorities last week began distributing iodine tablets to residents living near the Zaporizhzhia plant in case of radiation exposure. Much of the concern centers on the cooling systems for the plant’s nuclear reactors. The systems require electricity, and the plant was temporarily shut down Thursday because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line. A failure of the cooling system could cause a nuclear meltdown. Periodic shelling has damaged the power plant’s infrastructure, Energoatom said on Saturday. “There are risks of hydrogen leakage and release of radioactive substances and the risk of fire is high,” it said. The IAEA tried to strike a deal with Ukrainian and Russian authorities to send a team to inspect and secure the plant, but it remained unclear when the visit could take place. In eastern Ukraine, where Russian and separatist forces are trying to take control, shelling hit the large and strategically important cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, with no casualties reported, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region. Konashenkov said Russian missiles killed 250 Ukrainian soldiers and reservists in and near Sloviansk. Ukrainian officials did not comment on the claim, in keeping with their policy of not discussing the damage. Sloviansk resident Kostandin Daineko told The Associated Press that he was falling asleep when an explosion ripped through his apartment windows. “I opened my eyes and saw how the window frame was flying over me, the frame and pieces of broken glass,” he said. Russian and separatist forces hold much of the Donetsk region, one of two that Russia has recognized as sovereign states. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed again on Sunday to retake the separatist regions. “The invaders brought degradation and death and they think they are there forever,” Zelensky said Sunday in his nightly video address. “But it’s a temporary thing for them. Ukraine will return. For sure. Life will return.”
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Andrew Katell contributed to this report from New York.
An earlier version of this story has been corrected to show that the Sloviansk resident’s first name is Kostiantyn, not Konstiantyn.
