A powerful explosion in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar — adjacent to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — has cut water and electricity supplies, the city’s mayor has said.
“Today at 12:20 residents of Enerhodar reported about a powerful explosion in the city,” said mayor Dmytro Orlov, who is not in the occupied city, on Telegram.
“After that, the electricity and water supply disappeared simultaneously in Enerhodar,” he added.
Separately, the Russian-backed authorities in the region said that a power line to the city had been damaged by Ukrainian shelling.
The military-civilian administration of Enerhodar said that “as a result of the shelling, the power line in the area of the nuclear power plant was damaged, there is temporarily no electricity in the city.”
Vladimir Rogov, a senior official in the Russian-backed administration in occupied Zaporizhzhia, said there had been seven incoming shells.
The Russian Defense Ministry, quoted by state news agency RIA Novosti, claimed that Ukrainian forces had shelled Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant 15 times in the past day.
“Ukrainian artillery has launched a total of 20 projectiles, including three of them at the nuclear power plant,” said the ministry.
CNN is unable to confirm claims by either side of shelling or damage at and around the nuclear plant.
