Russian-controlled Ukrainian nuclear plant targeted for ‘sabotage’, Kremlin warns
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KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — The Kremlin said Wednesday that Ukraine is preparing an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Russia-occupied territory, raising fears of a disaster as each side accuses the other of potential sabotage at the facility, which Moscow’s forces control.
Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have warned with increasing frequency in recent days that Russian has planted explosives around the plant’s nuclear reactors and also mined its cooling pond.
“The threat of sabotage by the Kyiv regime is high,” Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, claimed on Wednesday without providing any basis for his allegation. Such sabotage could have “catastrophic” consequences, Peskov said.
Ukrainian officials have said the odds of an accidental release of radiation at the Zaporizhzhia plan have increased since the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, an act Kyiv has blamed on Russian forces.
Russia has denied destroying the dam, which is also located in Russian-occupied territory and was under Moscow’s control at the time of its collapse.
Peskov, on Wednesday blamed the destruction of the dam on Kyiv but Russia has not provided evidence and has not explained how Ukraine could have carried out such an act. The destruction of the dam, located downstream of the nuclear plant, led to catastrophic flooding and drained the reservoir of water that is needed to cool the reactors
