Russia claims Ukraine plans to attack nuclear plants, Kyiv denies allegations
A screenshot from a video released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a fire broke in Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on August 11, 2024.
Russia claimed Saturday that the Ukrainian authorities plan to carry out strikes at the Kursk and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants and subsequently accuse Moscow of doing it.
“At the moment, it is known about the intention to attack the nuclear facilities of the Kursk and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants in Kurchatov and Energodar. The purpose of the strikes is to subsequently accuse the Russian Federation of provocation,” the Russian military police said in a statement on Telegram.
According to the statement, Kyiv also wants to force Moscow to carry out strikes with nuclear weapons in Ukraine in response to attacks against the Kursk and Zaporizhzhia plants.
Ukraine plans to hit the storage sites of spent nuclear fuel and, for this purpose, warheads have already been delivered to the Vostochny Mining and Processing Plant in the Yellow Waters of the Dnipro region, it claimed.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was quick to deny the allegations, saying Kyiv has neither such intentions nor capabilities to do so.
“We officially refute these false reports. Ukraine has neither the intention nor the possibility of any such action,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy told media in Kyiv.
