Putin Says Ukraine Tried to Strike Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant

Russia accuses Ukraine of trying to strike a nuclear power plant in the Kursk region. That's as fighting and evacuations continue on both sides of the border. Here's the latest on that conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Ukraine tried to strike a nuclear power plant in an overnight attack. The enemy tried to strike the Kursk nuclear power station last night. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been informed. They promised to come themselves to send specialists to assess the situation. The International Atomic Energy Agency is the UN watchdog for nuclear safety. On Wednesday, a day before the alleged attack, Russia already said that the head of the watchdog agreed to visit the plant in Kursk. Rafael Grossi has already confirmed his readiness to visit the Kursk nuclear power plant at the end of August this year. The details of the said visit are currently being worked out. Last week, Russia's defense ministry accused Ukraine of planning to attack the Kursk plant as part of its ongoing incursion into the Russian region. Ukraine had denied the plans at the time. The governor of the Kursk region on Thursday said that the vast majority of the population had to evacuate the state after Ukraine's incursion. As of today, 133,000 people left. 20,000 people still remain in the area. We keep resettling people to safe places. Meanwhile, on the Ukrainian side, evacuations continue in the Donetsk region. Starting Tuesday, authorities ordered mandatory evacuations of families with children in the town of Pokrovsk. The situation in the town is getting worse as Russia's army is advancing fast. Ukraine says there were almost 50 Russian attacks on the Pokrovsk front on Wednesday.