NIKOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Only hours after the latest international pleas to spare the area around Ukraine’s main nuclear plant from attacks, there were new claims of Russian shelling close to the Zaporizhzhya facilities early Monday.
Nikopol, on the the opposite bank of the Dnieper River and about 6 miles downstream from the plant, came under fire three times during the night from rockets and mortars, hitting houses, a kindergarten, the bus station and stores, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. There was no information on injuries or loss of life.
Reports of sustained shelling around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant further highlighted the dangers of a war that will hit the half-year mark on Wednesday.
After U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres again urged caution during a visit to Ukraine last week, U.S. President Joe Biden further discussed the issue with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain on Sunday.
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian occupied Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. Kyiv and Moscow continued to accuse each other of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, stoking international fears of a catastrophe on the continent. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP) 
Lyudmila Kolesnik, center, the mother of activist Julia Chaika, mourns over her coffin during a funeral service in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. Julia Chaika was killed fighting Russian forces on Aug. 18. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko) 
A bicyclist pedals with a dog through a street lined with barricades in Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
Yulia Lukianova, right, fills bottles with water with the help of Mykolai Moroz, as residents wait in line Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. A local homeowner with a private well allows residents to fill up at his home for two hours each day as the next closest well for many in this neighborhood, which hasn’t had running water for months, is almost one kilometer (0.6 miles) away. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
A Ukrainian military tank drives down the road in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
Residents wheel their water bottles away after filling them up at a house with a private well in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. The homeowner allows residents to fill up for two hours each day as the next closest well for many in this neighborhood, which hasn’t had running water for months, is almost one kilometer (0.6 miles) away. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
Dilapidated billboards line a street as a military vehicle drives through Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
Ukrainian servicemen eat dinner in the village where they’re currently staying in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
A Ukrainian serviceman looks at his phone on his bed in the village where their unit is currently staying in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
Ukrainian servicemen walk through the village where their unit is currently staying in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
The four leaders stressed the need to avoid military operations in the region to prevent the possibility of a potentially devastating nuclear accident and called for the U.N.’s atomic energy agency to be allowed to visit the facilities as soon as possible.
Yet, nothing seemed certain in a war that has spread fear and unease far beyond the frontlines in eastern and southern Ukraine and also into the Russia-annexed Crimea peninsula and as far as Moscow, where on Saturday night a car blast killed the daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as “Putin’s brain.”
On Monday Russian authorities were looking for further clues who could be behind the incident, after authorities said preliminary information indicated 29-year-old TV commentator Daria Dugina was killed by an explosive planted in the SUV she was driving.
A former Russian opposition lawmaker, Ilya Ponomarev, said an unknown Russian group, the National Republican Army, claimed responsibility for the bombing. The AP could not verify the existence of the group. Ponomarev, who left Russia after voting against its annexation of Crimea in 2014, made the statement to Ukrainian TV.
Ukraine officials have denied involvement.