Russia attempts to hit the dam in Kryvyi Rih with Kinzhal missiles. Russia has everything ready to blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Zelenskyi says. What is known about a strike on the Chonhar bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi warned Thursday that Russia was preparing a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. All leaders, he said, are aware of what\u2019s happening at the Russian-occupied plant. Russia has turned the site into a military base to launch attacks on nearby towns and avoid return fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUkrainian intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with the release of radiation. They have prepared everything for this,\u201d Zelenskyi said in a video address on Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Radiation could spread to other countries, he added. Ukraine shares all information and evidence with international organizations and partners in Europe, the U.S., China, Brazil, India, Africa, and Arab states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On June 20, Ukraine\u2019s defense intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said that Russian troops additionally mined the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, namely the cooling pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia attempted to hit the dam in Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipropetrovska region, with Kinzhal missiles, advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia is unable to \u201ckeep hold\u201d of Enerhodar, a satellite city for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in the medium term, he said, and is considering \u201ca large-scale terrorist attack\u201d at the plant to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive and \u201ccreate a depopulated sanitary gray zone, fixed for the next years, as part of the territorial status quo without ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Podolyak said Russian forces were additionally mining the plant, namely the cooling pond. \u201cWhether the Kremlin decides to go ahead with this scenario today depends solely on the reaction of the global world. The red lines have to be defined. The consequences must be announced. Not tomorrow. Today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RBC Ukraine, citing unnamed sources, earlier said that Russia possibly attempted to hit the dam in Kryvyi Rih overnight on June 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On September 14, 2022, Russian forces struck the dam in Kryvyi Rih with Kinzhal and Iskander missiles, causing water levels in the Inhulets River to rise, flooding more than 100 houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the morning of June 22, a strike hit two road bridges near Chonhar that connect the Russian-occupied part of Kherson region with Crimea, disrupting an important Russian supply line. The strike on the Chonhar bridge severed one of the few links between mainland Ukraine and Crimea. Russian forces began to use another route through Perekop, closer to Ukrainian positions and possibly within range of Ukraine\u2019s state of the art weapons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting on the strike on the Chonhar bridge, head of the joint press center of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, Natalia Humenyuk said Ukrainian troops do not seek to destroy infrastructure, but to disrupt Russian supply lines. \u201cHot season lies ahead. [Russian occupying forces in Crimea] hope for a vacation season, it\u2019s just that different people will vacation there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When questioned on the strike, Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine\u2019s defense intelligence, said: \u201cWork is ongoing and will be continued. This is the planned work of the security forces, the defence forces, the resistance movement and the local population, which is waiting for the return of Ukrainian legal power in these territories. I can only say: to be continued\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Chonhar bridge is critical for [Russia] moving troops, ammunition and equipment to and from Crimea, from the Zaporizhzhia direction,\u201d Andriy Zahorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defense minister, told CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with the New Voice of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military and political analyst at the Information Resistance group said that a strike on the Chonhar bridge was \u201can attempt to cut the supply link to Melitopol\u201d and a warning sign to the Russians that \u201cfleeing from southern Ukraine will be difficult if the supply lines are disrupted\u201d. The strikes on the Chonhar bridge echo the damage to the Antonivskyi bridge that eventually presaged liberation of Kheron, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n