Russia and Ukraine accused each other of bombing the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, and the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations condemned such attacks and said they threatened a major nuclear catastrophe.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Ukrainian forces launched artillery shelling on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, causing damage to the station and the power transmission lines to it.
The ministry accused Kyiv of continuing the provocations, with the aim of creating a threat of a catastrophe at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
For his part, the advisor to the director of the Russian Nuclear Energy Corporation, Rinat Karcha, said that the Ukrainian forces launched artillery shelling on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
He added that the bombing targeted a warehouse for storing newly used nuclear fuel, and a water basin for cooling nuclear reactors.
Pointing out that there is a danger of new targeting of the station by the Ukrainian army.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Atomic Energy Agency accused - today, Sunday - Russia of bombing the area of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, shortly after Moscow accused Kyiv of targeting the site.
The agency said that Moscow bombed the station's infrastructure more than 12 times during the day, accusing Russian forces of "endangering the entire world."
Threat of a nuclear catastrophe
In turn, the International Atomic Energy Agency considered that the bombing of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant is unacceptable, and that it must stop immediately, and said that such attacks threaten a major nuclear catastrophe, and renewed its call to the parties to the conflict to establish a safety zone around the station.
The Director General of the International Agency, Rafael Grossi, also condemned the attack on the station, and called on those behind the explosions that occurred there to stop it immediately.
Zaporizhia has been repeatedly bombed since Russia took control of it shortly after it began its invasion of Ukraine.
And Russia and Ukraine exchanged accusations of responsibility for the bombing of the site, which threatens a nuclear accident.
The nuclear plant - the largest in Europe - provided about a fifth of Ukraine's electricity needs before the Russian war on February 24, and it had to operate with backup generators several times.
Russian bombing
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Staff announced renewed Russian bombing of the Ochakiv area in Mykolaiv (south of the country), and a spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff said that the Russian army had carried out in the past hours an air strike and 4 missile strikes, in addition to about 60 attacks with different missile systems.
The Ukrainian spokesman pointed out that his forces inflicted dozens of deaths on the Russian forces and about 160 injuries, during the bombing carried out against their positions in Zaporizhia (southern Ukraine).
On the other hand, the Russian military website "Rebar" said that the Russian army targeted gatherings of Ukrainian forces and military vehicles in the cities of Kherson, Antonovka, and other nearby towns on the right bank of the Dnipro River.
The site added that the Russian forces also targeted sites of the Ukrainian army in the cities of Bakhmut and Solidar, in addition to several towns in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions.
Negotiation
Politically, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mikhail Podolyak said that the West's attempts to persuade Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow are strange, after the series of major military victories achieved by Kyiv.
Podolyak added - in press statements - that this means that the country that regains its lands must surrender to the country that loses, and indicated that the West cannot pressure Ukraine to conduct negotiations.
Podolyak questioned Russia's desire for negotiations, pointing out that Russian President Putin still believes that he can destroy Ukraine despite the military defeats suffered by his army.
And Andrei Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office and his chief aide, had confirmed that Moscow had not officially communicated with Kyiv about the possibility of holding peace talks, and added that in any case Russia would have to withdraw its forces completely before negotiations took place.
He noted that any talks that are not based on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders will not be "acceptable."
His remarks came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out the idea of approving a "short truce" with Russia, saying that it would only exacerbate matters.
No American pressure
The White House repeated last Friday that Zelensky is the only one who can agree to start negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, rejecting any idea of US pressure on Kyiv in this direction.
US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley recently said that Ukraine's battlefield victories could open a window to start talks for a political solution to the conflict.
On the other hand, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian National Security Council, said that the West is tired of the behavior of the Ukrainian president, who constantly asks the West to send more money and weapons through letters full of feelings, as he put it.
He added that the United States and NATO "do not want a complete break with Russia, and that is why they are trying to push Kyiv for more rationality."