Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Shelling Around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
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Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Shelling Around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Moscow and Kyiv traded fresh accusations on Saturday of shelling around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been a focus of international concern that fighting in the area could trigger a disaster.

Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been controlled by Russian forces since early March. Ukrainian staff continue to operate it and in recent weeks the two sides have traded blame for shelling near the plant.

Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom energy agency said Russian troops again shelled the grounds of the plant complex in the last 24 hours, Reuters reported

"The damage is currently being ascertained," Energoatom wrote in a statement on Telegram.

Moscow's defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant complex three times in the last 24 hours. Reuters could not verify the battlefield report.

"A total of 17 shells were fired, four of which hit the roof of Special Building No. 1, where 168 assemblies of US WestingHouse nuclear fuel are stored," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

It said 10 shells exploded near a dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and three more near a building that houses fresh nuclear fuel storage. It said the radiation situation at the plant remained normal.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday the situation at Zaporizhzhia remained "very risky" after two of its six reactors were reconnected to the grid following shelling that caused the nuclear plant to be disconnected for the first time in its history.

Energoatom said on Friday evening that both of the plant's two functioning reactors had been reconnected to the grid and were again supplying electricity after they were fully disconnected on Thursday.

The Russian ministry, in its daily briefing, also said it had destroyed a large ammunition depot in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region that had contained US-made HIMARS rocket systems and shells for M777 Howitzers.

The Russian Air Force shot down a MiG-29 aircraft in the eastern Donetsk region, the ministry said, and destroyed another six missile and artillery weapons depots in the Donetsk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.



Trump Says Iran Has Proposal from US on Its Rapidly Advancing Nuclear Program 

People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Trump Says Iran Has Proposal from US on Its Rapidly Advancing Nuclear Program 

People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has an American proposal over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as negotiations between the two countries go on.

Trump's remarks represent the first time he's acknowledged an American proposal is with Tehran after multiple rounds of negotiations between US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Negotiations have gotten into the “expert” level — meaning the two sides are trying to see if they can reach any agreement on the details of any possible deal. But one major sticking point remains Iran's enrichment of uranium, which Tehran insists it must be allowed to do and the Trump administration increasingly insists the country must give up.

Trump made the comment aboard Air Force One as he ended his trip to the United Arab Emirates, the last stop on his three-nation tour of the Middle East that also included Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

At nearly every event he attended in the region, he insisted that Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear bomb — something American intelligence agencies assess Tehran is not actively pursuing though its program is on the cusp of being able to weaponize.

A reporter asked Trump: “On Iran, has the US given them a formal proposal? Has Steve Witkoff handed that over?”

“They have a proposal,” Trump responded. “But most importantly, they know they have to move quickly, or something bad is going to happen.”

Trump did not elaborate on the substance of the proposal and Iran did not immediately acknowledge having it. On Thursday, Araghchi spoke to journalists at the Tehran International Book Fair and said that Iran did not have any proposal from the Americans yet.

Araghchi also criticized what he called conflicting and inconsistent statements from the Trump administration, describing them as either a sign of disarray in Washington or a calculated negotiation strategy. Witkoff at one point suggested that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later began saying that all Iranian enrichment must stop.

“We are hearing many contradictory statements from the United States — from Washington, from the president, and from the new administration,” Araghchi said. “Sometimes we hear two or three different positions in a single day.”

Iranian and American officials have been in Oman and Rome for the negotiations, always mediated by Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a trusted interlocutor between the two nations.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on Tehran, closing in on half a century of enmity.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Middle East already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.