War

Occupants “announce” terrorist attacks on Kursk and Zaporizhzhia NPPs: Ukraine reacts

The Russian occupiers may be preparing a nuclear provocation at the Kursk or Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plants to blame Ukraine for it. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the head of the National Security and Defence Council’s Disinformation Counteraction Centre , Andriy Kovalenko, and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

According to Kovalenko, the Russians’ scenario of accusing Ukraine of terrorism and the attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant did not work, and “now they are lying about the ‘dirty bomb’ and our possible provocation.”

“This is evidence that Russia may be preparing a terrorist attack,” he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine denied such reports of Russian propaganda.

Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhyi said that there is another surge of crazy Russian propaganda about Ukraine’s alleged plans to use “dirty bombs” or attack nuclear power plants.

“We officially refute these false reports. Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies,” he said.

Tychyi added that Ukraine has always been and remains a committed member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“We do not have any ‘dirty bombs’ and do not plan to acquire them. When Russia first spread this nonsense in 2022, we invited an IAEA mission, which completely refuted this lie. Nothing has changed since then,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

ZNPP

Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the third largest in the world by total capacity. Located in the Zaporizhzhia region near the city of Enerhodar, it consists of six nuclear power units of 1 GW each. Construction began in 1981, and the first unit was commissioned in 1984. The last unit, the sixth, was commissioned in 1995.

ZNPP annually produced about 40 billion kWh of electricity, which was about 20% of Ukraine’s total power generation. It is also the first nuclear power plant in the country to have a dry spent fuel storage facility.

The Russian army seized ZNPP on the night of 4 March 2022, having previously shelled the nuclear facility. Russia has also occupied the city of Enerhodar, near which the plant is located.

Since the beginning of the Russian occupation, Zaporizhzhia NPP has experienced eight full blackouts and one partial blackout, with emergency diesel generators and safety systems being launched. According to Energoatom, their failure threatens to cause an emergency.

The last time the plant faced the threat of blackout was on 22 March this year after Russia’s massive shelling of Ukrainian energy facilities.

Read our article to find out whether the fire at ZNPP is related to the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Kursk offensive:

Ukrainian Armed Forces Advance in Kursk Region, and a Fire Breaks Out at Zaporizhzhia NPP: Are These Events Related and What to Expect Next?

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