Intense bombing around Zaporizhzhia as residents fear the nuclear power plant could be hit

More than 48 weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, it was another day of fear and fierce fighting, and another day when the fog of war makes it hard to separate fact from fiction.

Ukrainians living near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, told Portuguese journalists from RTP that they had been under intensive Russian bombardment for 48 hours.

Pitro, a resident of the town, showed journalists a house he said had been destroyed by a Russian missile, killing a woman inside. He was afraid that the nuclear power plant would be hit.

Pitro said, “That would be a huge problem. Not only for our city, but for all of Ukraine and wherever the wind would blow. This would be very dangerous.”

The Portuguese journalists also spoke to a Ukrainian soldier, Mykola, who was recovering from injuries sustained in Bakhmut.

Mykola said, “We, the military, like to be shot at and bombed. We do it because it’s our duty, but touching peaceful people is a crime.”

On Russian state television and the Telegram social media channel, allegations were directed at the Ukrainian army of a deliberate attack on a hospital.

Photos allegedly show recent footage of a hospital in the city of Novoaidar, with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming that Ukraine deliberately attacked the facility with a US HIMARS missile, killing 14 people and injuring 24 others.

Novoaidar is located in Luhansk province, which is almost entirely under the control of Russian troops or Russian-backed separatists.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov used a daily briefing to provide a litany of success stories to illustrate his claim that his country’s armed forces destroyed weapons used by the US and NATO allies to Ukraine were delivered.

According to his briefing, 16 HIMARS, Olkha and Uragan missiles were intercepted within 24 hours, while a US-made HARM anti-radar missile was destroyed. But that wasn’t all.

“In addition, two US-made M777 artillery systems, two US-made Paladin self-propelled artillery systems, and one US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar were eliminated,” Konashenkov reported.

None of the general’s claims could be independently verified, but it is clear to all that Ukraine experienced another bloody Sunday just 27 days before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.