1 Institute for the Study of War and AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment,
August 6
Kateryna Stepanenko, Katherine Lawlor, Karolina Hird, George Barros, and
Frederick W. Kagan
August 6, 9 pm ET
Click here to see ISW's interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This map is updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
Russian and Ukrainian forces traded accusations of dangerous shelling at the
Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on August 6
continuing the exchange of accusations ISW reported on August 5.
ISW
cannot independently determine which party is responsible for the incident.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the alleged Russian shelling as an
"open, brazen crime” and “an act of terror.”
He called on the international community to
designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and to sanction Russia’s nuclear industry.
Both sides claimed that the shelling caused a fire at the hydrogen station at the plant.
The Russian-appointed head of the Zaporizhia Oblast Occupation Administration,
Evgeniy Balitskyi, claimed on August 5 that Ukrainian forces “decided to put the whole of
Europe on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe” by shelling the plant.
The Ukrainian head
of the Zaporizhia Oblast Military Administration, Oleksandr Starukh, claimed on August
6 that Russian forces are trying to “provoke” Ukrainians into shelling the NPP to make the
West hesitant to provide weapons to Ukraine.
A Russian opposition outlet reported that Russian forces are storing explosives and
ammunition around the nuclear power plant. The Insider reported on August 5 that a
source claimed Russian forces mined the turbine room of energy block 1 of the NPP around
August 2.
A separate source claimed that about 500 Russian soldiers, as well as armored
personnel carriers and anti-aircraft guns, were stationed within the plant and that Russian
forces mined the area around the plant. The second source said that Russian forces “store
mines and ammunition in the immediate vicinity of the energy blocks, under trestles, with
some of the ammunition stored inside the energy block.” The second source was unsure
“whether the energy block has been mined or is simply used for storing explosives.” The
Insider reported that Russian forces established Grad rocket batteries near the village of
Vodyane, approximately 4 km from the NPP reactors (and approximately 2 km from the
spent fuel containment units at the plant). Ukrainian channels and officials had reported
in mid-July that Russian forces were firing on Nikopol—the Ukrainian town just across
the river from the NPP—from near the nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia NPP.
Ukraine’s
Southern Military Command has subsequently reported that Russian forces have regularly
shelled Nikopol with Grad rockets, damaging 47 houses on August 5 and 6.
ISW previously assessed on August 3 that Russian forces are likely using the NPP to play
on Western fears of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine in an effort to degrade Western will to
provide military support to a Ukrainian counteroffensive, while also effectively using the
plant as a nuclear shield to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian forces and equipment.
Note: ISW does not receive any classified material from any source, uses only
publicly available information, and draws extensively on Russian, Ukrainian,
