After the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on June 6, Ukraine is worried about the Zaporijia power plant. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday accused Russia of preparing a “terrorist attack” involving a “radiation leak” at the Russian-held nuclear power plant in the south of the country. “They prepared everything for it,” the Ukrainian president, whose country was the scene of the worst nuclear accident in history after the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, told Telegram. Let us transmit this information to “All our partners around the world, all the evidence (…) The world is warned, the world can and must act,” he demanded.
“This is a new lie,” Russia responded immediately. “We just had contacts with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” whose director Rafael Grossi is expected in Russia on Friday and visited the Ukrainian power plant last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
This facility, the largest in Europe, has been at the center of the war waged by Russia against Ukraine for more than a year. When it fell into the hands of the Russian army in March 2022, it was shot at several times and the power grid was cut off. But the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam has reignited concerns and raised questions about the sustainability of the pool, which is used to cool the plant’s six reactors. During his on-site visit on June 15, the IAEA Director concluded that the situation there was “serious” but stabilizing.
What is the situation at the Zaporizhia power plant? Is there a risk of an “attack”? And where is the Ukrainian counteroffensive? While the communication battle between Kiev and Moscow continues, fighting is raging on the ground. Ukrainian troops are trying to break through the dense lines of Russian forces: minefields, trenches, fortifications, airborne forces… But the advance is slow and very difficult. Volodymyr Zelenskyy also recognizes this: The counter-offensive launched by the Kiev army on June 4 is progressing “slower than expected”. “Some people think it’s a Hollywood movie and expect instant results. That is not the case,” he said in an interview published on the BBC’s website on Wednesday, June 21.
While Kiev was able to recapture ten villages and around 100 square kilometers of territory in the first days of the counterattack, progress has slowed since then. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin told state television that Ukraine’s counter-offensive had “no chance” of succeeding, adding that “Leopard” main battle tanks, French wheeled armored vehicles and American tanks were on fire. But on the same day, the leader of the Wagner group, Evgueni Prigoyine, accused the Russian military hierarchy of “hiding” his army’s difficulties. “The enemy occupies Piatykhaty, north of Robotyne and Urojayne, which means large areas have been lost to the enemy (…) All of this is completely hidden from everyone. One day Russia will wake up and realize that Crimea exists. “Ukrainian,” he said. Meanwhile, we learned that a Ukrainian attack hit the Tchongar Bridge, which connects Crimea to the Kherson region. A strategic point: Crimea serves in particular as a logistics base for the Russian armed forces stationed in southern Ukraine.
At the same time, the fight is also being waged on the diplomatic front. A few days after the mediation mission of seven African countries in Kiev and Saint Petersburg, Emmanuel Macron is hosting a “summit for a new global financial pact” in Paris this Thursday and Friday. In all, around fifty heads of state have come together to try to revive North-South cooperation. Officially, the discussion should focus on helping to combat global warming, but the war in Ukraine will also be a key element of this meeting. Emmanuel Macron should try to win over the southern countries to the Ukrainian cause.
For the war has exposed fault lines within the international community. On the one hand, Western countries united around Kiev in the face of the so-called Russian aggression. On the other hand, in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America, a number of countries have opted for a more ambiguous position, refusing or abstaining from condemning Russia. An often calculated neutrality, combined with the defense of its own interests (energy, grain, etc.), but also with Moscow’s diatribe, which constantly invokes the creation of a multipolar world order against Western hegemony.
The experts :
– General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the United Nations
– Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director of the FRS, Geopolitical Advisor at the Institut Montaigne
– Anthony Bellanger, columnist, specialist on international issues France Inter
– Iryna Dmytrychyn, Lecturer at Inalco, National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations