Ukraine claimed that Russian troops occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had planted bombs on the facility’s roof in preparation for an imminent sabotage – even as Moscow accused Kyiv of plotting a “false-flag” attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Tuesday that he told France’s Emmanuel Macron in a phone conversation about Russian “dangerous provocations” at the plant in southeastern Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin’s forces seized control of Zaporizhzhia — Europe’s largest nuclear facility — in the first days of the invasion in February 2022, and it has remained in Russian hands for the past 16 months.
The two sides have regularly traded accusations of shelling around the plant and risking a nuclear catastrophe.
Ukraine’s military released a statement Tuesday quoting “operational data” as saying that “explosive devices” had been placed on the roof of Zaporizhzhia’s third and fourth reactors Tuesday, and that an attack was possible “in the near future.”
“If detonated, they would not damage the reactors but would create an image of shelling from the Ukrainian side,” the statement posted on Telegram said. It added that the Ukrainian army stood “ready to act under any circumstances.”
In his video address, Zelensky accused Russia of planning to “simulate an attack on the plant. Or they could have some other kind of scenario.”
“But in any case, the world sees — and cannot fail to see — that the only source of danger to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Russia. And no one else,” he added.
Zelensky reminded that “radiation is a threat to everyone in the world, and the nuclear plant must be fully protected from any radiation incidents.”
Russia responded to Ukraine’s alarming claims by accusing Kyiv of planning an act of sabotage at the power plant.
Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, the state-controlled company that operates Russia’s nuclear network, alleged that Ukraine planned to drop a “dirty bomb” containing nuclear waste taken from another of the country’s five nuclear stations on Zaporizhzhia.
“Under cover of darkness overnight on July 5, the Ukrainian military will try to attack the Zaporizhzhia station using long-range precision equipment and kamikaze attack drones,” Russian news agencies quoted Karchaa as saying.
Both Zelensky and Karchaa offered no evidence to back their dueling claims.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday that the consequences of an attack on the plant by Ukrainians could be catastrophic.
“The situation is quite tense because there is indeed a great threat of sabotage by the Kyiv regime, which could be catastrophic in its consequences,” he said.
“The Kyiv regime has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to do anything. Therefore, all measures are being taken to counter such a threat,” Peskov added.
The escalating situation surrounding the nuclear power plant has led to an exodus of terrified Ukrainians out of the country, with queues at the border crossing to neighboring Moldova stretching for two miles, reported Sky News.
The IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, has been trying for more than a year to secure a deal to demilitarize the Zaporizhzhia plant, but without success.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has visited the Russian-controlled facility three times since the occupation but failed to reach any agreement to protect the facility from shelling.
Zelensky’s senior aide Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukrainian television that Grossi had proved ineffective in trying to keep the plant safe.
“Any disaster at Zaporizhzhia could have been prevented if [Grossi had been] clear straight away,” Podolyak said, accusing the IAEA of flip-flopping in its approach to the problem. “That is, instead of this clowning around that this man is doing. And when there is a disaster, he will say they had nothing to do with it and warned about the dangers.”
With Post wires