Fate of Ukraine's second biggest power plant in balance after Russian advance

Agencies | Kyiv                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The fate of Ukraine's second biggest power plant hung in the balance after Russian-backed forces claimed to have captured it intact, but Kyiv did not confirm its seizure, saying only that fighting was underway nearby.

If confirmed, the seizure of the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant in eastern Ukraine would be Moscow's first strategic gain in more than three weeks in what it calls its "special military operation".

Unverified footage posted on social media appeared to show fighters from Russia's Wagner private military company posing in front of the Vuhlehirsk power plant, which some Russian state media - citing Russian-backed officials - reported separately had been stormed.

One of the Wagner fighters in front of the plant showed his watch to the camera - the time on it was 1001 local and gave the date as July 26. The same unverified footage showed that working parts of the Soviet-era power plant, which is perched on the shore of a huge reservoir, appeared to be undamaged.

Ukraine did not confirm the power plant's capture and only said that "hostilities" were underway in two nearby areas. It said on Monday that "enemy units" had made some gains around the facility. British military intelligence said on Wednesday that Wagner fighters had probably succeeded in making tactical advances in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine around the power plant and the nearby village of Novoluhanske.

It said some Ukrainian forces had probably withdrawn from the area. Russian forces meanwhile suffered a setback in southern Ukraine's Kherson region after Ukrainian forces struck an important bridge straddling the Dnipro river with what a Russian-appointed local administrator said were U.S.-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS).

The Antonivskyi bridge is the city of Kherson's sole span across the river and Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed city administration, told Russia's RIA news agency it had been closed to traffic after the strike. He said Russia was ready to compensate for it being taken out of action with pontoon bridges and ferries.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak quipped on Twitter that the Antonivskyi bridge was good at intercepting Ukrainian missiles. "...You cannot escape the reality," he wrote. "The Russian occupiers should learn how to swim across the Dnipro River. Or should leave Kherson while it is still possible. There may not be a third warning."