Ukraine targets Russian soldiers threatening Europe's largest nuclear power plant - Reuters

KYIV, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Russian soldiers who shoot at Europe's largest nuclear power station or use it as a base to shoot from that they will become a "special target" for Ukrainian forces.

Russian troops captured the Zaporizhzhia facility in southern Ukraine early in the war, but it is still being run by Ukrainian technicians.

Zelenskiy, who did not give any details, reiterated that he considered Russia was using the plant as nuclear blackmail.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of "hitting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that powers the south of Ukraine is generated".

Local Russian-installed official Vladimir Rogov wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were shelling the plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is seeking to inspect the plant, has warned of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.

Russian-backed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in the eastern region of Donbas continued assaults to the north of Donetsk city, the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter.

Ukraine's military command said early on Sunday that Russian soldiers had continued, unsuccessfully, to attack Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka, which since 2014 has become one of the outposts of Ukrainian forces near Donetsk.

The first ship to depart Ukraine under the deal two weeks ago was approaching the Syrian port of Tartous on Sunday, two shipping sources said.