On Tuesday, Russia and Ukraine again accused each other of plotting to attack Russia’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has long been the subject of mutual accusations and suspicion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he informed his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron of Russia’s “dangerous provocations” at the plant.
Russian forces seized the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest civilian nuclear facility with six reactors, days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, each side has regularly accused the other of bombing plant and risk a major nuclear accident.
Renat Karchaa, adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, which runs Russia’s nuclear network, said Ukraine planned to dump munitions with radioactive waste from one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants at the nuclear power plant.
“Under cover of darkness on the night of July 5, the Ukrainian army will attempt to attack the Zaporizhzhia station using long-range precision weapons and kamikaze attack drones,” Renat Karchaa told reporters. Russian news agencies. The Russian official did not provide any evidence to support his claim.
In turn, Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that he told Macron in a phone conversation that “occupying troops are preparing dangerous provocations in Zaporizhzhia.” The Ukrainian president added that he and Macron “agreed to keep the situation under maximum control with the IAEA”.
In the message from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, citing “operational data”, it says Russian invaders on Tuesday planted “explosive devices” on the roof of the plant’s third and fourth reactors. A terrorist attack is possible “in the near future”.
“In the event of an explosion, they will not damage the reactors, but they will create the appearance of a bombardment from the Ukrainian side,” the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a Telegram message. He also specifies that the Ukrainian army is “ready to act in all circumstances”. Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian military have also provided no evidence for their claims.
Previously, Ukrainian intelligence reported that the Russian invaders were gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and also ordered Ukrainian workers at the plant to evacuate by July 5.
According to Ukrainian sources, on July 3, the mayor of occupied Energodar, Dmitry Orlov, said that around 100 Rosatom employees and some of the collaborators who signed contracts with the company had already left the station and the city. .
None of the plant’s reactors are currently producing electricity.
In his late-night video message, Zelenskyy said Russia planned to “simulate an attack on a nuclear power plant. Or they could have another scenario.”
“But in any case, the world sees, and can only see, that the only source of danger for the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is Russia. And no one else,” Zelenskyy said.
The IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, has been trying for more than a year to reach an agreement to ensure the demilitarization of nuclear power plants and reduce the risk of any nuclear accident.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has visited the station three times since Russia took control, but has never been able to reach an agreement on protecting the site from bombing. Zelenskyy’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, told Ukrainian television that Grossi was an ineffective manager in trying to ensure nuclear safety at the nuclear power plant.
Last week, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby at a White House press briefing commented on Ukraine’s reports of Russia’s plans to blow up the plant. Zaporizhzhia nuclear project, that the United States “was following this very closely”. According to him, at the moment, the United States “sees no sign that this threat is imminent”.
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