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Putin warns Macron of risk of 'catastrophe' at Ukraine nuclear plant

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres leaves after a news briefing in the sea port in Odesa, Ukraine, after restarting grain export on Friday. - Reuters
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres leaves after a news briefing in the sea port in Odesa, Ukraine, after restarting grain export on Friday. - Reuters
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MOSCOW/KYIV: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that shelling of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which he blamed on Kyiv, could result in a large-scale disaster.


Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which was captured by Russia in March but is still run by Ukrainian technicians. Only two of the facility's six reactors are working.


"Vladimir Putin, in particular, stressed that the systematic shelling of the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian military created the danger of a large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radiation contamination of vast territories," the Kremlin said in a readout of the call, which it said had been initiated by Macron.


Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of planning provocations at the plant. Kyiv said that Russian forces planned to disconnect the facility from the Ukrainian power grid and link it up to the Russian one.


The Kremlin said that Putin and Macron had stressed the importance of sending a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the plant as soon as possible.


Putin confirmed Russia's readiness to provide IAEA inspectors with the necessary assistance, according to the Kremlin.


In the call, Putin also told Macron about continuing obstacles to supplying Russian food and fertiliser products to world markets.


HUGE BLASTS


Explosions erupted overnight near military bases deep in Russian-held areas of Ukraine and Russia itself, an apparent display of Kyiv's rapidly growing ability to wreak havoc on Moscow's logistics far from front lines.


The explosions follow huge blasts last week at a Russian air base in Crimea. In a new assessment, a Western official said on Friday that incident had wiped out half of Russia's Black Sea naval aviation force in a stroke.


Ukraine also issued a new warning about a frontline nuclear power station where it said it believed Moscow was planning a "large-scale provocation" as a justification to decouple the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and connect it to Russia's.


In Crimea - which Moscow seized and annexed in 2014 - explosions were reported near an air base in Belbek, on the southwest coast near Sevastopol, headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. On the opposite end of the peninsula, the sky was also lit up at Kerch near a huge bridge to Russia, with what Moscow said was fire from its air defences.


Inside Russia, two villages were evacuated after explosions at an ammunition dump in Belgorod province, near the Ukrainian border but more than 100 km (60 miles) from territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.


Closer to the front, Kyiv also announced a number of strikes overnight behind Russian lines in southern Kherson province, including at a bridge at the Kakhovska Dam, one of the last routes for Russia to supply thousands of troops on west bank of the Dnipro River.


"The Ukrainian armed forces treated the Russians to a magical evening," Seriy Khlan, a member of Kherson's regional council disbanded by Russian occupation forces, wrote on Facebook.


Kyiv has been coy about its role, withholding official comment on incidents in Crimea or inside Russia while hinting that it is behind them using long-range weapons or sabotage.


Russian officials reported no one hurt in the latest explosions in Crimea or Belgorod. They said they had shot down drones in Belbek and Kerch, and confirmed that they had ordered the evacuation of two villages in Belgorod where they were investigating the cause of a fire. - Reuters


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