Russia And Ukraine Accuse Each Other Of A Planned Attack On Europe’s Biggest Nuclear Plant

Russia and Ukraine both denied having any plans to attack the largest nuclear power plant in the world, which is located in the Ukrainian territory of Zaporizhia on Wednesday, July 5.

Since Moscow’s forces took seized control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant early on in the conflict, the plant has been on a knife edge. Since then, Moscow and Kyiv have accused one another of nuclear terrorism and traded accusations of shelling the site.

The plant’s six reactors were shut down due to frequent power disruptions brought on by shelling deemed it unsafe to run the facility.

The risk of a radioactive disaster like to the one at Chernobyl after a reactor exploded in 1986 has alarmed the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog on numerous occasions during the past year.

More recently, Ukraine has claimed that Moscow may try to deliberately leak information in an effort to thwart Kyiv’s ongoing counteroffensive in the nearby Zaporizhzhia area. Russia was suspected by Ukrainian officials of detonating a dam in southern Ukraine last month with a similar purpose, while Moscow attributed its damage to Ukraine.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, claimed Wednesday, July 5, citing the most recent intelligence sources, that Russian forces had allegedly put “objects resembling explosives” atop a number of the plant’s power units to “simulate” an outside attack.

“Their detonation should not damage power units but may create a picture of shelling from Ukraine,” according to a statement from the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, warned of a potentially “catastrophic” provocation by the Ukrainian army near the nuclear plant.

“The situation is quite tense. There is a great threat of sabotage by the Kyiv regime, which can be catastrophic in its consequences,” Peskov said in response to a reporter’s question about the plant. He also claimed that the Kremlin was pursuing “all measures” to counter the alleged Ukrainian threat.

Russia and Ukraine have presented no evidence to back up their allegations that the plant is under imminent threat.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has officials stationed at the Russian-controlled site, but the Russian government ordered all troops to depart by July 5th.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated that his agency’s most recent inspection of the plant revealed no explosive activity, “but we remain extremely alert.”

“As you know, there is a lot of combat. I have been there a few weeks ago, and there is contact there very close to the plant, so we cannot relax,” Grossi said during a visit to Japan.

“Our experts must be able to verify the facts on the ground. Their independent and objective reporting would help clarify the current situation at the site, which is crucial at a time like this, with unconfirmed allegations and counter allegations,” Grossi said in a statement.