Russia ‘planning false flag attack at power plant’

Ukraine’s military leadership has warned of a possible false flag operation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the coming days.

The power station in southern Ukraine is the third largest in the world and has been occupied by Russian troops since 2022, shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.

Kyiv’s General Staff said in a post on Facebook that the feared operation would make Ukraine appear responsible for whatever took place at the site.

“Russia is the only terrorist in the world holding a nuclear power plant hostage and using it to blackmail Ukraine and the whole world,” the military officials said. No one but Russia has ever brought the world so close to the brink of a deliberate nuclear catastrophe, the post said.

Russia and Ukraine have each accused the other of trying to provoke an incident at the plant.

There is a significant level of international concern about safety at the site as fighting has almost led to disaster several times since Russian troops occupied the site and then laid mines around it soon after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

The plant has a capacity of almost six gigawatts. All six of its reactors are now in a cold state.

Ukraine’s warnings of nuclear risks come as the country’s cities continue to endure aerial attacks.

In Nikopol, not far from the power station, at least four people were injured by Russian artillery fire and several houses were reported to have caught fire.

In the Dnipro region in southeast Ukraine, 15 people were injured on Sunday by falling debris from a Russian cruise missile that was brought down. Some 30 residential buildings were also damaged, the regional military administration said.

The reports came after Russian overnight drone attacks on Ukraine that focused on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, continuing a pattern of recent weeks, Ukrainian authorities reported earlier.

“Kharkiv is a danger zone. The city is coming under attack from Shahed drones,” city mayor Ihor Terekhov posted on Saturday.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said all 10 Russian drones over the Kharkiv region had been intercepted. The attack had targeted critical infrastructure of the city, 40km south of the Russian border, Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv governor said.

National public broadcaster Suspilne reported power cuts.

Russia has intensified its attacks on Kharkiv since midMarch, hitting power supplies in particular. Given its proximity to the Russian border, the aerial attacks come with little advance warning, and there are fears the city could gradually become uninhabitable.

The village of Vesele, which lies in the region close to the Russian border, suffered a hit. A couple were found dead in their bombed home.

In Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry reported on Sunday that 10 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in the early hours over the Krasnodar region in the south of the country.

Details about possible targets were not released.