Fighting in Ukraine edges closer to Europe's largest nuclear power plant

It has been 175 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. On Thursday, the situation on the ground has remained fairly similar, but the situation around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is concerning.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

The situation around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant is getting increasingly serious. The largest nuclear facility in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant was captured by the Russian military in the early days of the war.

Although Ukrainian scientists have been allowed to maintain administrative control of the nuclear facility, Moscow essentially has the final say on operations. The Russian military has used the protected nature of the nuclear power plant to rest troops nearby, knowing that the Ukrainian forces wouldn’t risk attacking.

However, over the past few days, as the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south is inching closer to Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the nuclear power plant has suddenly been thrown into the center of the storm, with fighting taking place near the facility and artillery shells landing perilously close to it, even forcing one of the nuclear reactors to stop for safety reasons.

The situation on the southern front as the Ukrainian counteroffensive is edging closer to Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. (ISW)

Meanwhile, the Russian military conducted ground assaults in the Donbas but failed to achieve anything significant.

Russian casualties

Every day, the Ukrainian military is providing an update on their claimed Russian casualties. These numbers are official figures and haven’t been separately verified.

However, Western intelligence assessments and independent reporting corroborate, to a certain extent, the Ukrainian casualty claims. For example, the Oryx open-source intelligence research page has visually verified the destruction or capture of almost 950 Russian tanks (which amounts to more tanks than the combined armor capabilities of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom) and more than 5,100 military vehicles of all types; this assessment has been confirmed by the British Ministry of Defense.

The same independent verification exists for most of the other Ukrainian claims. Recently, the Pentagon acknowledged that the Russian military has lost thousands of combat vehicles of all types, including over 1,000 tanks, and dozens of fighter jets and helicopters.

Furthermore, more recent reports that are citing Western intelligence officials indicate that the Russian military has suffered up to 20,000 fatalities in the war so far. Sir Tony Radakin, the British Chief of the Defence Staff, recently told the BBC that the West understands that more than 50,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the conflict thus far. If we were to take the Ukrainian figures as accurate, the number mentioned by Sir Radakin is on the low side of the spectrum.

A destroyed Russian vehicle in Ukraine. (File photo)

Yet, it is very hard to verify the actual numbers unless one is on the ground. However, after adjusting for the fog of war and other factors, the Western official numbers are fairly close to the Ukrainian claims.

As of Thursday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is claiming the following Russian casualties:

44,300 Russian troops killed (approximately three times that number wounded and captured)
4,179 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles destroyed
3,061 vehicles and fuel tanks
1,889 tanks
1,010 artillery pieces
793 tactical unmanned aerial systems
234 fighter, attack, and transport jets
265 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS)
197 attack and transport helicopters
190 cruise missiles shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses
136 anti-aircraft batteries
93 special equipment platforms, such as bridging equipment
15 boats and cutters
four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems

Over the past weeks, the rate of Russian casualties has slowed down despite continuous pressure and offensive operations in the Donbas. This suggests two things: First, the Russian commanders are taking a more cautious approach to their offensive operations, fully utilizing combined arms warfare to achieve their goals; and second, the Ukrainian forces are running out of combat power or ammunition — and this is expected after nearly five months of war against the Russian military. Recent reports from the ground suggest that both of these factors are true and that the fatigue of warfare is catching up on both sides.

A Ukrainian Soldier reloads his magazine as part of the multi-national exercise Rapid Trident 2015 at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in Yavoriv, Ukraine, July 29, 2015. (Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Walter Van Ochten/DVIDS via Wikimedia Commons)

For most of May, the Russian military suffered the greatest casualties around the Slovyansk, Kryvyi Rih, and Zaporizhzhia areas, reflecting the heavy fighting that was going on there. As the days and weeks went on, most of the heavy fighting shifted toward the direction of Bakhmut, southeast of Slovyansk, around Severodonetsk, Lyman, and Lysychansk.

Then the location of the heaviest casualties shifted again westwards toward the area of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — where one of Europe’s largest nuclear plants is located — as a result of a Ukrainian counteroffensive in and around the area.

Then, the concentration of casualties once more shifted back to the Donbas, and especially in and around Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the two urban centers the Russians managed to capture lately.

On Thursday, Ukrainian forces continued to inflict the heaviest casualties in the direction of Donetsk City.

The stated goal of the Russian military for the renewed offensive in the east is to establish full control over the pro-Russian breakaway territories of Donetsk and Luhansk and create and maintain a land corridor between these territories and the occupied Crimea.

Feature Image: The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant (DENAMAX via Wikimedia Commons)