Russian Missiles Landed Near Nuclear Power Plant in Western Ukraine: Kyiv

Russian attacks overnight struck near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in western Ukraine, the country's Energy Ministry said on Wednesday.

Officials said 20 people were wounded in the attacks, and buildings were damaged. Some 1,860 people in the cities of Slavuta and Netishyn experienced power outages, the ministry said in a statement.

According to local news reports, it marked the fourth day in a row that Russian forces had targeted the Khmelnytskyi region.

"At night, the enemy struck territory near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant. As a result of the explosion, windows in administrative and laboratory buildings have been damaged," Ukraine's Energy Ministry said.

Ukraine's interior minister said its air force downed 11 Russian drones in the attacks, which came in the early hours of Wednesday. Officials didn't specify how close the attacks were to the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant.

Newsweek could not independently verify the reports and reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

Images shared on social media and via local news outlets showed damaged buildings—including kindergartens—in Slavuta and Netishyn with their windows and doors blown out.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said two fire stations were damaged in the attacks.

The Khmelnytskyi region is around 280 miles from the capital, Kyiv, and around 550 miles from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), which is occupied by Russian forces.

The ZNPP, which is Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been controlled by Russian troops since March 2022, just days after President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. It was one of the first sites to be seized by Moscow.

Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence agency (GUR), said this month that Ukraine has so far made three attempts so far to free the nuclear plant.

The ZNPP's six reactors are in shutdown mode, and its one remaining power line is supplying the electricity needed to prevent a reactor meltdown.

There has been widespread concern about a potential nuclear catastrophe at the plant. Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other's forces of shelling the ZNPP.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in March that holding a nuclear power station "hostage" for more than a year was "surely the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of European or worldwide nuclear power."

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Update 10/25/23, 8:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

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