This is reported by "Voice of America".

Russia controls parts of southern Ukraine that it seized in the early stages of the invasion, but Kyiv has said it will launch a counteroffensive.

The Ukrainian authorities say that they have already returned 53 settlements in the Kherson region under their control.

"Russia has started to create a strike group in the direction of Kryvyi Rih.

It is also likely that the enemy is preparing a counteroffensive with a further plan to reach the administrative border of the Kherson region," said the Southern Military Command of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian company "Energaatom" reported that the Russian troops today carried out several strikes near the industrial site of the Zaporozhye NPP.

Later, the company reported that the "Luch" electric substation was damaged as a result of the shelling.

As a result of the second shelling, as "Energaat" claims, the hits hit the site of the nuclear power plant near one of the energy blocks where the nuclear reactor is located.

The nitrogen-oxygen station and the combined auxiliary building were damaged.

According to the company, there is a risk of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances.

The message to "Energaatam" states that before the shelling, representatives of "Rosatom" left the station.

The TASS agency, with reference to the representatives of the administration of the Zaporizhia region appointed by Russia, reported that Ukrainian troops shelled the territory of the nuclear power plant, which caused a fire and cut off two power lines necessary for the operation of power plants.

The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region

, said that Russia fired 60 missiles at Nikopol, located on the opposite bank of the Dnieper from the Zaporizhia NPP.

The Zaporizhia NPP has been under Russian control since Russian troops seized it at the beginning of the war.

Ukraine is trying to increase pressure on Russian positions in the strategically important Kherson region and is using Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike Russian supply lines and ammunition depots.