Global Courant
Kyiv, Ukraine –
Ukraine and Russia accused each other on Wednesday of planning to attack one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants, which is located in southeastern Ukraine and occupied by Russian troops, but neither side has provided evidence to support their claims .
Citing intelligence reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops placed “objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units” of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The objects can be used to “simulate” an attack, he said, meaning a false flag attack.
A statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the “foreign objects” were placed on the outer roof of the plant’s third and fourth power units.
“Their blast should not damage energy units, but could create an image of shelling from Ukraine,” the statement said.
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov raised the specter of a potentially “catastrophic” provocation by the Ukrainian army at the nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe but whose six reactors have been shut down.
“The situation is quite tense. There is a high threat of sabotage by the regime in Kiev, which could have catastrophic consequences,” Peskov said in response to a reporter’s question. He also claimed that the Kremlin is taking “all measures” to counter the alleged Ukrainian threat.
His comments came after Renat Karchaa, an adviser to Russia’s state-owned Rosenergoatom, said there was “no basis” for Zelenskyy’s claims of a plot to simulate an explosion. The Ukrainian leader made the allegation in his nightly video address on Tuesday.
“Why would we need explosives there? This is nonsense, (aimed at) maintaining the tension around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” Karchaa said.
Russian media on Tuesday quoted Karchaa as saying that the Ukrainian military planned to attack the power station on Wednesday with munitions laced with nuclear waste. On Wednesday afternoon, there were no indications of such an attack.
Ukraine had been warning for months about Russian plans to deliberately release radiation from the plant, citing internal intelligence reports. Ukrainian officials have claimed that Moscow could attempt to sabotage the factory in an attempt to derail Kiev’s ongoing counter-offensive in the surrounding Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia occupied the factory in the early stages of the war. Over the past year, Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the facility.
