Will Russia Blow Up Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant? Strange “objects were placed” Large cocaine gang smashed – 24 arrests in Europe and Brazil

Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of an alleged imminent attack on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. “We now have information from our intelligence service that the Russian military has placed objects resembling explosives on the roofs of several reactor blocks of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Tuesday night.

Possibly an attack on the power plant can be simulated and Ukraine is accused of being the mastermind. Zelenskyj called for international pressure on Russia to prevent this. Moscow, on the other hand, said Ukrainian forces themselves were planning an attack on the nuclear power plant, which is close to the front.

“Unfortunately, there was no timely and broad response to the terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. And that can inspire the Kremlin to new evil,” said the Ukrainian head of state. On June 6, an explosion destroyed the Kachowka Dam, sending huge amounts of water out of the adjacent reservoir and flooding hundreds of towns and villages.

Podoljak: Grossi was “joking”

The Ukrainian side is convinced that Russia deliberately blew up the structure that supplies cooling water to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Many international experts also believe this is likely, but Moscow denies it and in turn accuses Kiev of the crime.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also received criticism from Ukraine. Rafael Grossi’s efforts to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant had no effect, Zelenskyi adviser Mykhailo Podoliak complained.

The IAEA is said to have turned in an attempt to ensure the safety of the nuclear power plant. Grossi allegedly made “jokes” instead of making the IAEA’s position clear from the start. “And if a catastrophe comes, then he will say that they had nothing to do with it and warned of all the dangers.”

Even before Selenskyj’s video address, both warring sides had exaggerated the allegations in the evening. As early as Wednesday evening, the Ukrainian armed forces would try to attack the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant with missiles and drones, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Russia’s atomic energy agency Rosenergoatom, claimed on state television on Tuesday. The Ukrainian General Staff, in turn, wrote in its daily situation report about alleged explosives on the roof of the nuclear power plant, the explosion of which was supposed to give the impression of a shelling.

According to the situation report of the Ukrainian General Staff, the explosives were attached to the roofs of the third and fourth reactor blocks, but were probably not intended to damage the reactors themselves. At the same time, the military leadership in Kiev stressed that Ukraine would not violate the norms of international law.

Russia: Ukraine plans bombing of nuclear waste

Karchaa accused the Ukrainians of such an offense. Therefore, not only should the nuclear power plant be fired, but a bomb with nuclear waste should also be thrown at the same time. The senior official in Moscow has not provided any evidence to support the accusation, nor has the Ukrainian side.

Although both warring parties repeatedly accuse each other of planned provocations around the power plant, the allegations have become increasingly serious in recent times. Rescue workers have recently been trained in the regions around the Ukrainian cities of Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia and Dnipro for a potential nuclear emergency.

But what are both sides aiming for with their intensified rhetoric? According to a recent analysis by the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Russian allegations could indicate that the Kremlin was rhetorically preparing a so-called “false flag” attack on the nuclear power plant.

This means that Russia is creating a story that would make a Ukrainian attack on the power plant plausible. Should the Russian side actually launch an attack on Zaporizhia in the future, the Kremlin could blame Ukraine, saying that it was precisely this situation that had been warned about in the past. At the same time, this would allow Russia to rhetorically obscure its own participation.

However, the ISW pointed out that an actual Russian attack is currently unlikely. In addition, the Zaporizhia power plant is designed to withstand significant damage without causing a nuclear catastrophe. According to the report, Ukrainian military sources said the explosives placed could not cause major damage. However, in the event of an explosion, they could still give the false impression that Ukraine had shelled the power plant.

The German Federal Agency for Radiation Protection comes to a similar conclusion: on the one hand, the destruction of the Kachowka dam still does not endanger the cooling of the power plant. At the same time, all reactors of the power plant have been shut down since September last year: “This reduces the decay heat of the fuel elements, which continuously reduces the risk of a radiological accident,” according to an evaluation on Tuesday. .

Russian troops have occupied the Zaporizhia power plant in southern Ukraine since March 2022. The massive complex came under fire several times during the fighting, fueling international concern about a nuclear disaster. The nuclear power plant has now been shut down for safety reasons. An observer mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency is on site.

With material from the agencies dpa and Reuters