Since March, Russia has occupied the Zapper region nuclear power
plant and a large section of southern Ukraine. A counter offensive
announced by Kiev today aims to see some of that territory back,
Nick Schifrin reports.
The images are grainy, but the message is clear. Ukraine is trying
to liberate Russian held territory, Ukrainian officials said. Troops
broke through Russia's first line of defense and seized abandoned
Russian ammunition. Spokeswoman Natalya Human Nuke spoke through
an interpreter. Our preliminary activities where successful we destroyed
many of their work houses of the Emanation district.
Lots of their air defense. Ukraine's targets are Russian forces who
currently occupied nearly 20% of the country's south and east. Today's
offensive appears to focus on the Kherson region, especially west
of the Nipper River in the city of her son. Her son was captured
during the initial invasion with the help of Russian text that left
occupied Crimea.
Early on her son, residents demonstrated and even stopped Russian
military vehicles with the power of their protest.
But Russian forces silenced all dissent and launched what Ukrainian
officials call a campaign of terror. Many residents fled and became
internally displaced people or IDPs, As the mayor of nearby car ivory
have told us in May
come here are running from hell. The information we received from
people in occupied territories, executions, torture and rape are
the standard practice.
For the last few weeks, Ukraine has been using long range American
weapons to strike behind Russian front lines, bridges and ammunition
used by Russian troops in her son to set the stage for today's assault,
concentration of firepower and direct ground assaults on frontline
positions that marks the start of the actual ground offensive.
Taking advantage of those conditions in the rear areas behind the
front line that Ukraine has set so far. Jennifer Cafarelli is the
national security fellow at the Institute of the Study of War. I
think tank that produces daily war updates, she says. Ukraine is
trying to make progress before Russia can run a repeat of the 2014
Crimea referendum and declare southern Ukraine annexed.
And before high natural gas prices caused by the invasion could erode
support in Western Europe.
The need to demonstrate to the West that Ukraine can launch a counter
offensive. I think that's essential for continuing to bolster Western
resolve to support Ukraine heading into what will likely be a difficult
winter for many in Europe, given the pressure of Russia will attempt
to place on NATO unity during those cold winter months northeast
of Harrison. Fighting continues near the Zaporozhie a nuclear power
plant, raising concerns that the facility could be damaged in the
crossfire to discuss those risks.
We turn to Ed Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union
of Concerned Scientists think tank and advocacy organization linemen.
Welcome to the news hour. The I e. A says it's going to inspect at
Zaporizhia, the physical damage the plant safety systems and the
condition of the staff. Can they accomplish that? Just in a few days?
Well, obviously, they won't be able to see everything they need to
see they'll have to sample But if provided, the Russians do not obstruct
their mission. They should be able to get a very good snapshot of
this of the plan at this time, and how much do you feel confident
that they can accomplish given? This is a technical organization,
and the problem fundamentally is about Russia's occupation of the
plant and the ongoing fighting around the plant.
Yes, well, obviously the political and the military context or very
difficult, But you shouldn't underestimate the importance of having
this mission, Uh, be able to travel to the site and to succeed, And
even if the idea is not allowed to see everything they need to see
or go where they need to go. Uh, that information that the Russians
are obstructing them will also be very important for the international
community and may help turn the tide and increase the political pressure
on Russia to stand down from
Using this facility as a military shield.
Let's talk about some of what the IAEA will be examining. And the
risks, uh, to the plant itself. Late last week, the plant temporarily
lost electricity, forcing it to rely on backup generators. How dangerous
was that moment in general? How dangerous is that risk?
Well, nuclear plants are very vulnerable to a lot of electrical power.
So that's one of the worst things that can happen if they lose both
off site power and their on site backup power than uh, in operating
reactor could start melting down within hours. So the time window
is very short. So anytime these
Levels of defense. Multiple, um backup electrical systems start to
be challenged. Then you're taking the plant closer to the risk of
a crisis. And that's why you have to avoid that at all costs and
make sure those backup systems are functional and available, mostly
because of that incident because of that risk that you just described
to the backup systems, spokesman for the National Security Council
said today that a quote controlled shutdown of the nuclear power
plant would quote be the safest and
Least risky option in the near term. What's your reaction to that
statement?
Well, it's certainly true that a nuclear reactor that shut down especially
after a few days safer than one, the time reading in the event that
there is something like a loss of power. The time window to react
to provide cooling to the fuel is longer. But of course, that you
have to balance that against the potential need for the power from
these reactors for Ukraine because not having electrical power is
also a health and safety issue.
So it's a tough call, but probably at this point when the tensions
are at their their peak, Uh, a temporary shutdown might be advisable
and let's talk about the physical risk to the plant. The U. S. Says
Ukraine has used the plant as a base from which to launch attacks
on sorry Russia has used the plan as a base to launch attack attacks
on nearby Ukrainian forces. How much of a risk is there to the plant
Because of these ongoing
Explosions that we're seeing inside the property of the plant.
Well, this is a very disturbing, uh, use of a civilian nuclear facility
as a military facility. And if Russia is using it as a shield, uh,
essentially, uh, betting that the Ukrainians are not going to directly
attack it because of the risk and giving the Russians free rein to
use it as a launching pad for attacks. That's a That's a very dangerous
game. Um, now the nuclear plants are resilient the level of shelling
that's already
Occurred is not apparently caused serious damage the safety systems,
But that could change at any moment. And the big issue here is uncertainty
when you're operating a nuclear power plant.
You don't want to have uncertainty you want to have the conditions
is controllable as possible. And certainly having this plant in the
middle of the war zone just violates that principle and makes it
very hard to predict how things will turn out. And finally the risk
to the staff itself. Today, Ukraine State nuclear authority warned
that Russia was increasing its pressure on the Ukrainian staff that
are operating this plant the staff by the way that it was already
operating it
Literally under gunpoint in about the 45 seconds we have left at
lineman. What kind of risk is it when you have a staff operating
a nuclear plant, literally under gunpoint?
Well, you can't underestimate the importance of having a staff that
is well rested, can operate without undue stress to be able to carry
out the activities both under normal and emergency conditions. So
these accounts of Russian intimidation are are very disturbing and
hopefully the I A will be able to get a sense of the truth behind
these and the capabilities of the staff to carry out their duties.
So that that's critical issue.
Lyman. Thank you very much.