MELITOPOL, July 5. /TASS/. Russian forces will prevent Ukraine from staging a false flag attack at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Renat Karchaa, advisor to the CEO of Russian state nuclear power corporation Rosenergoatom, said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the official warned that the Ukrainian armed forces were planning to attack the ZNPP on the night of July 5.
"The threat I mentioned yesterday is still there. That said, our troops remain on high alert. We have every reason to place our trust in them and rely on them to prevent those beyond the river, not to mention their masters beyond the English Channel, from carrying out the scheme that they have cooked up," Karchaa told Russia’s Channel One television.
He said earlier that the Ukrainian military intended to attack the power plant with long-range, high-precision weapons and drones. Additionally, in his words, the Ukrainian armed forces may employ munitions filled with radioactive waste removed from the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant on July 3. A back-up plan, involving the use of a high-precision Tochka-U missile armed with a warhead filled with radioactive waste, may also be put into effect, Karchaa said, citing information available to him.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky accused Russia of allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on the Zaporozhye NPP. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed Zelensky’s allegation as yet another lie. Karchaa, in turn, said that the Ukrainian leader’s statement could serve as proof of Kiev’s preparations for an attack on the ZNPP, which would ultimately be aimed at dragging NATO further into the Ukrainian conflict as an actual belligerent.
On June 23, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said at a UN Security Council meeting that Moscow was highly concerned about Kiev’s increasingly shrill allegations that Russia is booby-trapping the ZNPP. According to him, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission that recently visited the facility could see for themselves the utter absurdity of such allegations.
The six-reactor, six-gigawatt Zaporozhye NPP, located in the city of Energodar, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russian forces took control of the facility in late February 2022. Since then, the Ukrainian army has periodically shelled both residential areas in Energodar and the power plant proper using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).