KUPIANSK, Ukraine — The
Kremlin on Monday denied its forces were responsible for large-scale
killings in east Ukraine and accused Kyiv of fabricating its discoveries of
mass graves in recaptured territory.
اضافة اعلان
In the latest
incident spurring fears of an atomic emergency, Ukraine said that Russian
rockets landed precariously close to a nuclear power station in southern
Ukraine.
Ukraine recaptured
Izyum and other towns in the east this month, crippling Kremlin supply routes
and bringing fresh claims of Russian atrocities with the discovery of hundreds
of graves — some containing multiple bodies.
“These are lies,”
Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday. Moscow, he said,
“will stand up for the truth in this story.”
Fighting in the
northeast has raged and AFP journalists heard artillery exchanges in frontline
Kupiansk on Monday, as traumatized civilians headed out of the town now mainly
in the hands of Ukrainian forces.
Most of the fire is
outgoing, with Ukrainian tanks and artillery targeting Russian positions on the
west side of the town, over a mess of broken bridges.
At the entrance of
the town, cowering from the sounds of Ukrainian tank shells passing overhead
towards Russian lines, civilians gathered to hitch rides or join buses to head
out into safer Ukrainian territory.
Russian-backed
authorities in east Ukraine said a “punitive” strike by Kyiv’s forces had
killed more than a dozen people and wounded more in the separatist stronghold
of Donetsk.
The rebel head of
the region claimed the strike was “deliberate” and said it would “not go
unpunished”.
Ukrainian civilians
in the recaptured northeast region of Kharkiv have recounted months of brutality
under Russian occupation.
Ukraine’s nuclear
energy agency, Energoatom, said Russia struck the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear
power plant overnight, with a “powerful explosion” just 300m from its reactors.
Attacks around
nuclear facilities in Ukraine have spurred calls from Ukraine and its Western
allies to demilitarize surrounding areas.
Europe’s largest
atomic facility — the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-held territory in
Ukraine — has become a hot spot for concerns after tit-for-tat claims of
attacks.
The UN’s atomic
agency deployed a monitoring team to the site in early September after new
fighting.
Kyiv’s forces have
clawed back territory near Mykolaiv, nearing the strategically important hub of
Kherson.
Russian forces have
continued to shell Ukrainian-held towns near the front lines.
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