“Russians want to restart Azot plant in Sieverodonetsk, one of the largest chemical plants in Ukraine,” wrote Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, on Twitter on Friday. Ukrainian workers are to be forced to return to their jobs.
Gerashchenko warns: “The facility was heavily shelled during the fighting and suffered major damage.” The control and security systems are not yet intact again. According to Gerashchenko, the commissioning could lead to a “major technical catastrophe”. The plant produces ammonia, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid, among other things.
Russia captured the fiercely contested city of Sievjerodonetsk at the end of June. At that time, hundreds of civilians held out in the chemical plant. Russia has always claimed in the past that Ukrainian militants held the civilians hostage at the Azot plant until the city was captured. The Ukrainian side denies this. Rather, they repeatedly accuse the Russian troops of forcing Ukrainian civilians to leave the occupied territories by sabotaging or completely preventing escape routes into Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The Ukrainian military governor of the Luhansk region had given the number of civilians in the chemical plant’s protective cellars as 568 before the Ukrainian troops withdrew.
Again and again, civilians die as a result of Russian attacks in Ukraine. Its president has therefore reiterated his call for those responsible to be brought before a war crimes tribunal. The OSCE meanwhile sees indications of Russian war crimes. That happened in the night.
For the past few days, Ukraine has been celebrating increasing successes against the Russian army with US weapons. On the one hand, this is due to the weapons themselves – but it is also related to an empty promise. A former prime minister of Russia is now facing consequences.
According to the think tank Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the EU is still the main recipient of Russian oil exports. Accordingly, the EU receives 51 percent, China 25 percent and India four percent of Russian oil. Still, since the war of aggression in Ukraine began, Russia would export fewer fossil fuels than before.
