Europe braces for nuclear nightmare
Ukraine has warned Russia is planning to stage a false-flag attack today on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is controlled by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
The Ukrainian defence intelligence agency said it had obtained information that Moscow had told its workers there not to report for duty.
Europe’s largest nuclear plant, near the front line in the central Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, has come under fire repeatedly in recent weeks, with Ukraine and Russia blaming each other for the shelling. Video images taken by a drone above the site showed Russian armoured fighting vehicles and ammunition trucks being moved into the reactor turbine halls, in an apparent attempt to use them as a shield.
Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defence forces, claimed the plant’s back-up support systems had been damaged as a result of shelling. In a presentation using slides, he suggested that Germany, Poland and Slovakia would be showered with radioactive material should an accident occur at the plant.
Mr Kirillov did not provide details of the damage already suffered but was believed to be referring to the diesel generators that pump coolant to the reactors if electrical power is cut. Russia has threatened to shut the plant, which provides surplus electricity to Europe, potentially cutting off power for millions of people in the surrounding area. It has deployed heavy weapons at the site.
The reactors are encased in thick layers of steel and concrete, but an explosion in the turbine hall where the Russian military vehicles were seen could cause a fire that would destroy reactor cooling systems, causing a radiation leak.
That would lead to a nuclear disaster on the scale of the incident at Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, Petro Kotin, the director of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company, said.
Ukraine has been conducting nuclear emergency drills in the region to prepare for a worst-case scenario.
About 500 Russian troops from Putin’s personal guard, Rosgvardia, are stationed at the plant, along with about 20 Kremlin nuclear specialists. Together, they oversee the work of several hundred Ukrainian employees.
The EU, the G7 and 42 other nations have called for Russia to immediately withdraw its troops from the area.
President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv with UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Erdogan. He said later they had discussed “the topic of Russia’s nuclear blackmail” at the plant, adding: “This deliberate terror on the part of the aggressor can have global catastrophic consequences for the whole world. Therefore, the UN must ensure the security of this strategic object, its demilitarisation and complete liberation from Russian troops.”
Mr Guterres warned earlier of the “suicidal” risks of attacking a nuclear power plant, amid fears the resulting fallout could be worse than the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The Kremlin dismissed calls for a demilitarised zone around the Zaporizhzhya plant as “unacceptable”, saying that would make it “more vulnerable”.