Russian officials announced several power and energy facilities were targeted in the overnight strikes. The fire at the nuclear facility was quickly extinguished with no injuries reported, according to the plant’s press service on Telegram. While the attack damaged a transformer, radiation levels remained within normal ranges.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said it was aware of media reports that a transformer at the plants had caught fire “due to military activity,” but hadn’t received independent confirmation. It added its director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said that “every nuclear facility must be protected at all times.”
Ukraine did not immediately comment on the alleged attack.
Firefighters also responded to a blaze at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia’s Leningrad region, home to a major fuel export terminal. The regional governor stated approximately 10 Ukrainian drones were shot down, with debris igniting the fire.
The incidents occurred as Ukraine marked independence day, commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered remarks in a video address from Kyiv’s Independence Square, emphasising the nation’s resolve.
“We are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace,” Zelensky said, calling for a “just peace.”
“What our future will be is up to us alone,” he stated, in a nod to the US–Russia summit in Alaska earlier in August, which many feared would leave Ukrainian and European interests side-lined.
“And the world knows this. And the world respects this. It respects Ukraine. It perceives Ukraine as an equal,” he added.
