Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday accused Russia of preparing a “terrorist attack” involving a radioactive leak at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
“Our intelligence services have obtained information that Russia is considering a scenario of a terrorist attack on the Zaporijia power station, an attack involving the release of radiation”Zelensky said on the Telegram social network.
“They prepared everything for the effect”, according to the French agency AFP.
Russia says plans for a radioactive leak are another lie in Kiev
Russia has dismissed Ukraine’s allegations that Moscow prepared a radioactive leak at the Zaporijia nuclear power plant, saying it was “another lie” from Kiev.
“This is a new lie. We have just been in contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency” (IAEA), said Kremlin (Russian presidency) spokesman Dmitri Peskov, quoted by the French agency AFP.
IAEA director Rafael Grossi visited the Zaporijia plant last week after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, also under Russian control.
The destruction of the dam on the Dnieper River on June 6 raised concerns about the sustainability of the reservoir used to cool the six reactors at the Zaporijia plant.
During the visit on June 15, Grossi described the situation at the plant as a result of the dam’s destruction as serious, but in the process of stabilisation.
Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up the dam to delay the counter-offensive it had launched in the south of the country and Moscow blamed Kiev for the explosion.
The Zaporijia factory, the largest in Europe, is at the center of the war that Russia launched against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The complex fell into the hands of the Russian army on March 4, 2022, was shot at several times and was disconnected from the power grid.
According to Kiev, Russia has deployed troops and weapons to the plant’s facilities.
Ukraine has four nuclear power plants with a total of 15 reactors, six of which are in Zaporijia.
The fighting around the Zaporijia power station has led the IAEA to warn of the danger of a catastrophic accident in a country that had the worst nuclear disaster of its kind in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Source: DN
