Day 165 Roundup: Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Struck Again

    Image copyright: Reuters [via Al Jazeera]

    The Facts

    • Ukraine has accused Russia of deliberately targeting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - which has been under Russian control since March - after rockets landed near a spent fuel storage facility on Sat. evening. Ukraine's state nuclear power company Energoatom said on Sun. that one worker was wounded in the strike that reportedly damaged three radiation detectors.

    • Russia, meanwhile has blamed Ukraine for the attack, with the head of the pro-Russian administration in Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, claiming that Ukrainian forces used an Uragan cluster rocket to strike the spent fuel storage area and damage administrative buildings.


    The Spin

    Pro-establishment narrative

    As the war shifts to the strategically important Donbas region of Donetsk, the US and its allies need to continue to do everything in their power to arm Ukraine with all the weapons they need. Doing so is the only way to push Putin's forces back as was done in Kyiv.

    Pro-Russia narrative

    As stated by Putin, the whole purpose of the war was never to invade Kyiv, but to liberate the ethnically Russian people of Donetsk and Luhansk, who have been subjected to systematic killing by Ukrainian forces for not recognizing the 2014 coup in Kyiv.


    Metaculus Prediction


    Establishment split

    CRITICAL

    PRO

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