Moscow 16 August : The United Nations rejected Russian accusations that it is blocking the visit of nuclear experts to the Zaporizhzhya plant in Ukraine amid reports of further explosions and shelling in the plant on Monday. Ukraine and Russia have been arguing with each other for several weeks of firing at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, possibly leading to a nuclear catastrophe.
The southern Ukrainian site is held by Kremlin troops, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu discussed the situation in the course of a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday, the news agency dpa said.
In a statement in New York, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric claimed that it was “just not the situation” that the executive arm of the UN was putting off a trip for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel.
“The UN Secretariat has no power to cancel or block” the tour, he said, adding that the Vienna-based IAEA nuclear body operates independently of the UN.
The UN has “the security capacity, logistics capabilities” in Ukraine to support the trip of IAEA inspectors to Zaporizhzhya, Dujarric said.
“But there must be a deal with Russia as well as Ukraine,” he added.
There has been disagreements over several of issues, including the travel route for IAEA inspectors could be.Ukraine will not permit the mission to be solely through Russian-occupied territory , for example, via Crimea or other ways across the border between Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow-installed officials have rejected requests for Russian forces to leave the plant, instead recommending an end to the conflict in the zone.
“The the leadership of the United Nations and the chief diplomat of the EU should not be discussing demilitarization, but rather about introducing an end-to-end ceasefire,” Vladimir Rogov, an official of the Russian occupation authorities in Enerhodar said to the state news agency of Russia Ria Novosti.
On Sunday, 42 nations comprising the US, European Union nations and Japan demanded that Russia give the plant back to Ukraine.
A civilian died and two others were injured near the site on Sunday.on Monday.
Rogov told Telegram that areas near the site in the town of Enerhodar were bombarded 25 times with heavy artillery.
According to Dmytro Orlov the Ukrainian mayor who fled Enerhodar after Russian forces seized the city in the early days in the conflict claimed that the sound of explosions was heard in the town.
The fighting continued across the country, with Russia’s military saying it has killed more than 100 “foreign mercenaries” in attacks during the last 24 hours, which have also wounded more than 50 in the region’s eastern Kharkiv region according to official figures.
The victims killed were Germans among them were Germans and Poles, Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said.The figures cannot be independently verified.
The Russian army attacked industrial structures as well as infrastructure with missiles, Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov declared, even though he did not mention of deaths.
Russian spokesperson Konashenkov added that Moscow’s troops have targeted Kherson in the south as well as Donetsk in the east killing over 402 Ukrainian soldiers.
He added that the Ukrainian command post close to Bakhmut an important strategic town in the Donetsk region, had been hit with shells.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the region referred to as the Donbass as states independent in February, despite international protests.He then started the war.
Putin on Monday reiterated the goal of complete capture of the Donbass which is in which Russian separatists were fighting for years prior to his incursion.
The Kremlin leader informed guests from all over the world at a military forum held annually close to Moscow that the Russian army is completing its duties in the so-called “People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk”.
While Ukraine is accusing Russia of murderous war crimes, and an bloody policy of occupation, Putin once again said “the soil of the Donbass is being liberated step-by-step” from Ukrainian nationalists.
In London, British defence analysts claimed that Russian plans for the referendum in the Donetsk region is in the final stages.
The Ukrainian general staff also stated that Ukrainian fighters had repelled Russian assaults on the towns of Soledar and Bakhmut.
The generals claimed Kiev’s forces also fought off attacks from the north of the city of Sloviansk and in the vicinity of Vuhledar.The information was not independently verified.
The tension was especially high in the Kherson region where Kiev’s troops are trying to retake territory the Ukrainian General Staff added.
The Ukrainian parliament has once again extended the martial law as well as a general mobilization that have been in force since the 24th of February.
The regulations, which contain an exclusion ban for men of conscriptage aged between 18 and 60, will apply until and including November 21.This is the second extension after the Russian invasion of the country.
Martial law grants the military more rights and limits civil liberties like the right to protest.
Experts view the extension as an indication of the length of time Kiev anticipates fighting to continue.
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