KYIV: Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator said Monday a Russian missile struck near a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

Energoatom said in a statement the missile landed 300 meters from the Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant but did not damage its reactors.

The strike did damage nearby buildings, Energoatom said.

“Russia endangers the whole world,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram in response to the missile strike. “We have to stop it before it’s too late.”

The Pivdennoukrainsk plant is Ukraine’s second-largest nuclear power plant. The largest, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, has been shut down since early September following shelling that Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other.

Also Monday, a senior U.S. defense official said the Wagner Group, a paramilitary company run by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, is trying to recruit 1,500 convicted felons to take part in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The defense official added, however, that many are refusing to join.

“Our information indicates that Wagner has been suffering high losses in Ukraine, especially and unsurprisingly among young and inexperienced fighters,” the U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters at a briefing.

(VOA)