Ukrainian Drones Knock out Two Substations Near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station

 A war crimes prosecutor works at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine June 19, 2024. (Reuters)
A war crimes prosecutor works at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine June 19, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Ukrainian Drones Knock out Two Substations Near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station

 A war crimes prosecutor works at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine June 19, 2024. (Reuters)
A war crimes prosecutor works at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine June 19, 2024. (Reuters)

Russian-installed officials said on Friday that Ukrainian drone attacks had put out of action two electricity substations in Enerhodar, the town serving the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and cut power to most of its residents.

But an official at the occupied Zaporizhzhia station, Europe's largest nuclear plant with six reactors, said it was unaffected by the military action.

On Saturday morning, the Russian management of the station said on their official Telegram channel that some "infrastructure facilities", including the transport department and print shop, experienced disruptions following the attacks.

They said that nuclear safety measures remain fully operational.

Russian troops seized the plant in the early days of the February 2022 invasion and Moscow and Kyiv have since routinely accused each other of endangering safety around it. It produces no electricity at the moment.

Eduard Senovoz, the top official in Enerhodar, wrote on Telegram that the latest attack had damaged the second of two substations supplying the town. The other substation was destroyed on Wednesday, he wrote.

Ukrainian officials have made no comment on the incidents and Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Russian news agencies quoted Yevgeny Yashin, director of communications at the Zaporizhzhia station, as saying the latest attack had no effect on the nuclear plant. And he said the substation could be repaired.

"Specialists have gone out to the site to assess the damage," Yashin told RIA news agency. "There is a chance to restore the damaged transformer but it will take time."

Russia launched mass attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the first winter of the conflict and resumed a long series of attacks in March.

Kyiv says the renewed attacks have knocked out half of Ukraine's energy generating capacity and forced blackouts.

Ukraine has stepped up its use of drones this year to attack Russian oil facilities. Ukrainian drones struck four Russian oil refineries as well as radar stations and other military targets in Russia in the early hours of Friday, Kyiv's military said.



Russia Condemns Israel's Killing of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
TT

Russia Condemns Israel's Killing of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo

Russia strongly condemns Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, calling on Israel to stop hostilities in Lebanon.

"This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East," the ministry said in a statement.

Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday Nasrallah had been killed, issuing a statement hours after the Israeli military said it had eliminated him in an airstrike on the group's headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.
Nasrallah's death marked a devastating blow to Hezbollah as it reels from an intense campaign of Israeli attacks, and even as the news emerged some of the group's supporters were desperately hoping that somehow he was still alive, Reuters reported.

"God, I hope it's not true. It's a disaster if it's true," said Zahraa, a young woman who had been displaced overnight from Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
"He was leading us. He was everything to us. We were under his wings," she told Reuters tearfully by phone.
She said other displaced people around her fainted or began to scream when they received notifications on their phone of Hezbollah's statement confirming his death.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah since the group's previous leader was killed in an Israeli operation in 1992, was known for his televised addresses - watched carefully by both the group's backers and its opponents.
"We're still waiting for him to come out on the television at 5 p.m. and tell us that everything is okay, that we can go back home," Zahraa said.
In some parts of Beirut, armed men came into shops and told owners to shut them down, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what faction the armed men belonged to.
Sprays of gunshots were heard in the Hamra district in the city's west as mourners fired in the air, residents there said. Crowds were heard chanting, "For you, Nasrallah!"