Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

EU Mulls Sanctions As Russia Accused of Shelling Ukraine from Nuclear Plant


Sun 17 Jul 2022 | 11:42 AM
Ahmad El-Assasy

On Monday, the European Union will talk about increasing sanctions against Russia because Moscow is allegedly using the largest nuclear power plant on the planet to store weapons and fire missiles into the southern Ukraine region.

According to Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine's nuclear energy organisation, the situation at the seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is "very severe," and the Russians have deployed missile launchers and exploited the facility to shell the Dnipro region.

Regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko claimed on Saturday that Grad missiles had bombarded residential areas, describing it as "a deluge of fire."

"Rescuers found two dead people under the ruins" in the riverside city of Nikopol, he said.

The EU's foreign ministers are considering prohibiting the purchase of gold from Russia, which would be in line with sanctions already put in place by G7 allies, according to AFP, as the battle rages on and progressively affects the world's energy and food crises.

The EU's blacklist might also be expanded to include more Russian inpiduals. Following the transmission of the suggested actions, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, declared that "Moscow must continue to pay a hefty price for its aggression."

According to a senior EU official, Brussels won't make a decision on Monday but will start early sanctions negotiations.

Moscow declared on Saturday that it would intensify its military operations more than 20 weeks after invading its neighbour, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and the eviction of millions of Ukrainians.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Minister Sergei Shoigu "gave the necessary instructions to further increase" military pressure.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of the country, has previously charged that Russia is trying to cause as much harm as possible but vowed that Ukraine would "endure."

In his speech on Saturday night, Zelensky said that Ukraine has "withstood Russia's brutal blows," recovered part of the territory it has lost since the war began, and will soon retake additional occupied area.

"We will endure. He asserted, "We will win, and rebuild our lives". While the majority of the fighting has continued to take place in the northeast, close to Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, the bombardments have recently been swift and intense.

Three people were murdered and a residential building and a nearby school were destroyed by a weekend Russian missile attack in the village of Chuguiv.

"Why me? Just because I was born in Ukraine?" asked resident Raiysa Kuval as she sat on the rubble.

"We were leaving peacefully, and they tore apart mother from father, child from mother, brother from sister... It's unbearable."