Ukraine takes back more land, worries over nuke plant mount

The Ukrainian counteroffensive continued to make gains Saturday, but an uptick in fighting near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant again raised concerns for the United Nations atomic watchdog.

Geolocated footage shows that Kyiv’s forces made “further advances” northwest of Verbove, a village in the western part of the Zaporizhzhia region, according to the U.S.-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War.

To the east, the village of Robotyne was recently recaptured by Ukraine, one of the biggest victories in their four-month offensive.

Footage also shows Ukraine made “marginal gains” near Klishchiivka, a village to the southwest of Bakhmut, a city that has seen some of the war’s most intense and long-lasting battles and was captured by Russia in May.

As Ukraine advanced, the ramped-up fighting near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant also sparked fear over a potential nuclear disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its experts stationed at the Russian-occupied nuclear power plant reported hearing multiple explosions over the past week, although they did not cause any damage to the plant.

“I remain deeply concerned about the possible dangers facing the plant at this time of heightened military tension in the region,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned in a statement.

The staff at the nuclear plant was temporarily reduced to minimum levels due to the increase in fighting, Grossi added.

“Whatever happens in a conflict zone, wherever it may be, everybody would stand to lose from a nuclear accident, and I urge that all necessary precautions must be taken to avoid it happening,” Grossi said.

Leading up to the latest developments in the region home to the continent’s largest nuclear plant, the IAEA has repeatedly voiced concern about a potential radiation leak from the facility, which shut down six reactors months ago, but still needs power and staff to operate cooling systems and other safety protocols.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued to fire artillery strikes across Ukraine, including in Kryvy Righ, a city in the central part of the country.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, posted a video to X, formerly known as Twitter, showing a missile strike that caused a massive explosion and ensuing fireball in Kryvy Righ that killed one and injured 72.

“Classic Russian-style terrorism,” Podolyak wrote.

Russia also shelled the village of Kostobobriv, which is on the country’s northern border near Russia, injuring one according to the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrinform.

Moscow has also been using artillery to stop it own troops from retreating, one captured Russian soldier claimed.

The Russian soldier, who was captured during fighting near Robotyne, claimed that when his unit had been trying to retreat, their own military started firing artillery shells right behind them, creating a wall of fire, Euromaiden Press reported.

The soldier claimed that his own country’s strikes were what injured him and killed his friends.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed Ukraine lost 66,000 troops and 7,600 tanks and other armored vehicles during the last three months of their counteroffensive — a number which is reportedly exaggerated because Ukraine did not even have that many soldiers and vehicles engaged in the counteroffensive.

“[Russian Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu claimed that Russian forces have destroyed a heavily exaggerated amount of Ukrainian personnel and military equipment since the counteroffensive began in June 2023,” according to a recent update by Critical Threats, a project created by the American Enterprise Institute.