The Ukrainian military warned on Sunday morning that Russian forces advancing north towards Kyiv could be moving to seize the dam of a key hydroelectric power station.

The threat to the Kaniv hydroelectric power station, located about 160km south of Kyiv on the Dnieper river, is part of what Ukrainian officials describe as a systematic effort to gain control over parts of the country’s critical infrastructure.

Since the invasion, Russian forces have destroyed, attacked or captured several energy infrastructure facilities around the country, according to the Ukrainian military, witnesses and video evidence verified by The New York Times.

Russian forces took control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia on Friday after a fierce battle caused a fire in a training building.

One day after the fire, Ukraine’s nuclear regulator told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it had been able to maintain communications with staff at the plant. The technical safety systems are intact and radiation levels are normal at the plant, the international agency said.

While operations have normalised, the situation inside the facility remained “tense”, said Rafael M. Grossi, the director-general of the agency, who called for operating staff to be allowed to rest and undergo regular shift changes.

Two out of six reactors are now operating. One telephone communication line had been lost but another was still functioning, as was mobile phone communication.

‘Russian control’

Staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continue to operate it, but management is now under the orders of the commander of the Russian forces that seized it last week, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Sunday, citing Ukraine’s regulator.

(New York Times News Service and Reuters)