Russia will stage a mock strike on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate has warned. To prevent Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive from regaining territory lost by Moscow, the Ukrainian defense ministry has warned that Russian forces aim to stage a massive accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station under Russian control.
Europe’s largest nuclear power station, the Zaporizhzhia plant, is located in an area of southern Ukraine occupied by Russia and has been the target of frequent shelling, with both sides placing the blame squarely on the other.
Fears of a nuclear accident have grown as military activity has escalated around Zaporizhzhia in preparation for Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive. The intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian defense ministry said on Friday that Russians were planning a “massive provocation” and “imitation of the accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant” within the next few hours.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is the target of their impending attack. The intelligence directorate stated on social media channels, “They will then announce the leakage of the radioactive substances.”
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According to the directorate, if there were any evidence of radioactive leakage from the facility, it would trigger a worldwide incident and prompt an investigation by international authorities. At that point, all hostilities would be suspended for the duration of the research.
The intelligence agency predicted that Russia would utilize the break in the conflict to reorganize and strengthen its defenses against the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The directorate, “they will blame Ukraine,” and the attack will “provoke the international community” to investigate the incident, leading to a halt in the war. According to the directorate, the attack’s goal is to “provoke the international community” into looking into the incident and forcing a pause in hostilities. “They obviously will blame Ukraine,” the directorate claimed.
‼️ Russians are preparing massive provocation and imitation of the accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the nearest hours.
They are planning to attack the territory of the ZNPP. After that, they will announce the leakage of the radioactive substances. pic.twitter.com/Vk6hRDD26v— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) May 26, 2023
Reports of a radiation leak at the plant would prompt quick evacuations, according to experts, which might prove difficult to organize in a conflict zone. The fear of radiation contamination, say experts, may be much more harmful to certain people than the radiation itself.
According to reports earlier this week, witnesses saw Russian military personnel fortifying defensive positions around the nuclear power station in preparation for Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive.
Ukraine’s intelligence directorate said Russian authorities had delayed the regular rotation of IAEA inspectors stationed at the plant before the planned radiological event.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s representative to the United Nations in New York, tweeted that the events could happen “in the coming hours” after hearing reports of a planned incident in Zaporizhzhia.
No evidence was provided in the directorate’s statement, and the IAEA in Vienna, which regularly monitors the situation at the power plant, has made no mention of any change to the schedule.
Kyiv and Moscow have both been blamed for attacks on the plant.
‼️ Russians are preparing massive provocation and imitation of the accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the nearest hours.
They are planning to attack the territory of the ZNPP. After that, they will announce the leakage of the radioactive substances. pic.twitter.com/Vk6hRDD26v— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) May 26, 2023
Russia accused Ukraine in February of plotting to fabricate a nuclear disaster on Ukrainian soil while blaming Russia. Moscow has regularly accused Kyiv of planning “false-flag” attacks with non-conventional weapons, like biological or radiological elements. No such assaults have occurred to date.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi will brief the UN Security Council next week on the security situation in Zaporizhzhia and his plan for safeguards. Since his last visit in March, Grossi has redoubled his efforts to secure an agreement with Ukraine and Russia to shield the facility from the war.
It’s effortless: don’t shoot at the plant, and don’t use it as a military base,” Grossi said in a statement last week.
“It should be in the interest of everyone to agree on a set of principles to protect the plant during the conflict,” he continued.
Zaporizhzhia used to provide about 20% of Ukraine’s electricity; it kept running through the first few months of Russia’s invasion, despite repeated shelling but shut down permanently in September.
Although the Zaporizhzhia facility has stopped producing energy, it is still connected to the Ukrainian power grid for its own needs, including cooling the plant’s nuclear reactors.
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