KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile struck near a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine Monday without destroying the three reactors but hitting other industrial equipment, in what Ukrainian authorities denounced as an act of “nuclear terrorism.”
The missile struck within 300 meters (328 yards) of the reactors of the Southern Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, blasting a crater 2 meters deep and 4 meters wide, according to Ukrainian nuclear power company Energoatom.  .
The reactors were operating normally and no personnel were injured, the agency said.  But the proximity of the strike has renewed fears that the nearly 7-month war in Ukraine could cause a radioactive disaster.
The nuclear plant, which is also known as the Pivdennoukrainsk plant, is Ukraine’s second largest after the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which has repeatedly come under fire.  The reactors of the two facilities are of the same design.
Following recent battlefield setbacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last week to step up attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.  Throughout the war, Russia has targeted Ukraine’s power generation and transmission equipment, causing blackouts and compromising the safety systems of the country’s nuclear plants.
The industrial complex that includes the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant is located along the Southern Bug River, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of the capital, Kyiv.  The attack temporarily shut down a nearby hydroelectric plant, broke more than 100 windows at the complex and cut three power lines, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukraine’s defense ministry released a black-and-white video showing two large fireballs exploding one after the other in the dark, followed by a shower of incandescent sparks.  A timestamp on the video reads 19 minutes past midnight.
The ministry and Energoatom called the attack “nuclear terrorism”.  The Russian Defense Ministry had no immediate comment.  The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, since the first days of the invasion.  The bombing disrupted its transmission lines, forcing operators to shut down its six reactors to avoid a radioactive meltdown.  Russia and Ukraine have swapped responsibility for the strikes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has installed monitors at the plant, said a main transmission line was reconnected on Friday, providing electricity the Zaporizhia plant needs to cool its reactors.
However, the mayor of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located, reported more Russian shelling on Monday in the city’s industrial zone.
While warning on Friday of possible escalating strikes, Putin claimed his forces had so far acted with restraint in responding to Ukraine’s attempts to strike Russian facilities.
“If the situation develops in this way, our response will be more serious,” Putin said.
“Just recently, the Russian armed forces carried out some spectacular strikes,” he said, referring to the attacks last week.  “Let’s think of them as warning shots.”
In addition to infrastructure, Russian forces are also pounding other locations.  The latest bombing killed at least eight civilians and wounded 22, Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday.
The governor of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, now largely back in Ukrainian hands, said Russian shelling killed four medics trying to evacuate patients from a mental hospital and injured two patients.
The mayor of the Russian-held eastern city of Donetsk said shelling had killed 13 civilians there.
Patricia Lewis, director of international security research at the Chatham House think-tank in London, said the previous attacks on the Zaporizhzhia plant and Monday’s strike showed that Russian military planners were trying to shut down Ukrainian nuclear plants before winter by targeting power supplies that keep them running safely.
“It is very, very dangerous and illegal to target a nuclear power plant,” Lewis said in an interview.  “Only the generals will know the intent, but there is clearly a pattern.”
“What they seem to be doing every time is trying to cut power to the reactor,” he said.  “It’s a very clumsy way to do it, because how accurate are these missiles?”
Power is needed to run pumps that circulate cooling water in the reactors, preventing overheating and—in the worst case—a radioactive nuclear fuel meltdown.
Other recent Russian raids on Ukrainian infrastructure have targeted power plants in the north and a dam in the south.  They came in response to a sweeping Ukrainian counteroffensive in the country’s east, which retook Russian-held territory in the Kharkiv region and broke what had largely become a stalemate in the war.
The Ukrainian successes – Russia’s biggest defeat since its forces were pushed out of Kyiv in the first stage of the invasion – have fueled rare public criticism of Russia and added to military and diplomatic pressure on Putin.
Nationalist critics of the Kremlin have questioned why Moscow failed to plunge Ukraine into darkness by striking all its major nuclear power plants.
In other developments:
— Ukraine claimed to have recaptured a village in the Russian-held region of Ukraine’s Luhansk region.  Luhansk Governor Serhi Haidai said Ukrainian forces recaptured Bilogorivka.  Russia has not acknowledged the claim.
— The Supreme Court in the Russian-controlled region of Luhansk convicted a former interpreter for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and another person whose duties were not specified of high treason on Monday.  Both were sentenced to 13 years in prison.
—Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania closed their borders Monday to most Russian citizens in response to domestic support for Russia over the war in Ukraine.  Under the coordinated travel ban, Russians wishing to travel to the Baltic countries or Poland for tourism or business, sports or cultural purposes will not be allowed to enter even if they have a valid check-free EU Schengen visa.
— Iconic Russian singer Alla Pugacheva used her famous voice to challenge the war.  In an Instagram post on Sunday, he described Russia as a “pariah” and said its soldiers were dying for “illusory goals.”
Russia’s Justice Ministry designated Pugacheva’s husband, singer and TV presenter Maxim Galkin, as a foreign agent on Saturday for allegedly conducting political activities on behalf of Ukraine and receiving Ukrainian funding.  Galkin had previously been critical of the war.
On Instagram, where Pugatchova has 3.5 million followers, the singer said she also wanted to be added to the register of foreign agents in solidarity with her husband.  She called her husband a “true and incorruptible patriot” who wants “an end to the deaths of our boys for illusory goals that make our country a pariah and burden the lives of its citizens.”
The 73-year-old singer has been extremely popular since the time of the Soviet Union.  Her statement was a notable slap in the face from a prominent figure in the Russian authorities, who have sought to stifle dissent.
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AP reporter John Leicester in Le Pecq, France contributed.