Cruise missiles hit Rivne

Russia’s defense ministry has said it hit a Ukrainian military installation in the northwestern city of Rivne with cruise missiles on Monday, raising fears for the safety and security of Rivne’s four-reactor nuclear power plant, the second largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and the biggest power station of any kind in western Ukraine. 

As many of us have warned for weeks, nuclear plants are not built to sustain hits from protracted military assaults. The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia site in southeastern Ukraine has already narrowly escaped disaster when it was attacked by Russian military on March 4. Russian forces remain in full control of that site, as well as the closed Chernobyl nuclear site, where staff are working under fear and duress, lack of breaks and exhaustion, according to the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.

A television tower in Rivne, Ukraine was shelled last week by a Russian cruise missile, resulting in at least 20 casualties and the loss of television transmission in the region. (Photo: Victor Korniyenko/Wikimedia Commons)