TASHKENT, August 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces have been shelling the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant "at the behest of the US," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev concluded.

"At the behest of the US, the Ukrainians have been incessantly bombarding crucially vital infrastructure at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. If a man-made disaster occurs there, it will affect the entire globe," he warned, when addressing the 17th meeting of the Security Council Secretaries from Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries on Friday.

The United States and "their vassals" have regularly orchestrated similar cynical provocations, Patrushev pointed out.

The SCO security council secretaries are holding a meeting ahead of the upcoming SCO summit of heads of state scheduled for September 15-16 in Samarkand.