Capturing the key city of Bakhmut could enable Russian forces to press on towards the bigger cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk…reports Asian Lite News
Russian officials and a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held a new round of consultations in Moscow on cooperation in ensuring the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP).
Alexei Likhachev, Director General of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, participated in the talks among other representatives, Rosatom said in a statement on Thursday.
Likhachev informed Grossi of the steps the Russian side is taking to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and provide comfortable social and living conditions for staff members and their families at the station.
Grossi spoke about the progress of his initiative to create a safety zone at the NPP, and Likhachev expressed Russia’s readiness to continue work on the implementation of this initiative, according to Rosatom, which operates the power station.
The Zaporizhzhia NPP, which is one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants, has been controlled by Russian forces since early March last year. Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations of strikes on the facility.
Russian forces intensify offensive efforts in Luhansk
A top Ukrainian official said that Russian forces have intensified their offensive efforts in the eastern Luhansk region over the past week.
In a statement on Thursday, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said that officials have witnessed a slight increase in Russian operations near the cities of Kupyansk and Lyman.
Russia is on the offensive in Luhansk, though without “much success” so far, the Governor added.
Haidai’s remarks came just two days after he had claimed that Russian troops were being sent to the war-torn nation’s eastern region as part of an offensive planned by Moscow on February 15.
On Tuesday. he had said that “we are seeing more and more reserves being deployed in our direction”.
Almost a year into Moscow’s ongoing invasion, an estimated 300,000 Russian reserve troops have been recruited in recent months in an attempt to break through Ukraine’s front lines in the east.
Capturing the key city of Bakhmut could enable Russian forces to press on towards the bigger cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.
The Governor had further claimed that the Russians’ two-month training period was coming to an end and Moscow would need around 10 days to transfer them to the front for a new offensive.
He suggested that in Luhansk region they would target the three towns of Bilohorivka, Kreminna and Svatove.
Since the past few months, Ukraine has been warning of an imminent Russian offensive that could begin on February 24, marking the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.
Thursday’s development came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy met European Union leaders in Brussels after his trips to London and Paris a day earlier, during which he asked for more fighter jets in en effort to boost Ukraine’s war capabilities amid the ongoing invasion.