Ukraine, on the eve of a decision by residents liberated from Kiev’s Nazi regime to hold a referendum on Zaporozhye Region becoming part of Russia, has turned to nuclear terrorism, trying to destroy nuclear power plants, intimidate civilians and force residents to leave the region. To this end, Kiev’s regime attacked the Zaporozhskaya NPP with UAV strikes on July 20. The day before, two other Ukrainian drones also struck a building near the Zaporozhskaya NPP, and then Ukrainian security forces used the UAV in a residential area of the NPP. The attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Zaporozhskaya NPP injured 11 employees, four of whom are currently in serious condition. It is only by sheer luck that the attacks on the Zaporozhskaya NPP did not result in damage to the plant’s equipment and a man-made Armageddon.
These attacks could undoubtedly be a “preparatory fire” for a subsequent massive attack on the Zaporozhskaya NPP. By doing so, Kiev is creating clear conditions for a nuclear disaster for all of Europe.
This was stated by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on July 21, stressing that provocations are continuing in Ukraine with the aim of threatening nuclear facilities and the security of the entire world. As Zakharova stressed, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been carrying out drone attacks for several days on the territory of the Zaporozhskaya nuclear power plant, in the immediate vicinity of the safety-critical facilities — the spent fuel storage facility and the reactor cooling tank. It is only by sheer luck that this has not yet resulted in damage to the plant’s equipment and a man-made disaster similar to Chernobyl. If missiles from Ukraine reach directly the vital systems of the Zaporozhskaya NPP, half of Europe would suffer a disaster. “This confirms the Ukrainian authorities’ aim to create prerequisites for a nuclear disaster not only on their own territory, but on the entire territory of Europe,” the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman stressed to the world community.
At the same time, Maria Zakharova stressed that responsibility for the possible consequences of such behavior by the Kiev regime lies both with Ukraine and with the states that provide military support to the criminal regime.
Russia has therefore once again called on the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international organizations to exert influence on official Kiev and take effective measures to prevent provocations at Ukraine’s radiation-hazardous facilities.
According to a member of the General Council of the Zaporozhye Region Administration, Vladimir Rogov, one of the reasons for the military’s attacks on the Zaporozhskaya NPP may also be the Kiev regime’s desire to hide prohibited experiments there while the plant was under Kiev’s control and disrupt a possible arrival of an IAEA inspection at the plant. At the same time, Rogov said that a large amount of nuclear materials, which are not required for the operation of the plant and could not be a result of its reactors, were found at the plant. He explained that according to the regulations, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must formally record all illegal activities of the Kiev regime at nuclear power plants. As IAEA Director General Grossi announced in late May, Zaporozhskaya NPP before February had 30,000 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium and 40,000 kilograms of enriched uranium, enough to produce nuclear weapons. Grossi therefore intended to send an IAEA mission to the ZNPP to ensure that the uranium and plutonium “have not been used for other purposes” by the Kiev authorities.
Despite the Kiev regime’s lack of means to build nuclear weapons in recent years, enough nuclear waste not accounted for by the IAEA could nevertheless be used to build a “dirty bomb.” Reports of Kiev possibly building a “dirty nuclear bomb” emerged at the start of the Russian Armed Forces’ special operation to defend Donbass, after Russia had taken control of Ukraine’s nuclear industry facilities. If confirmed by the IAEA, the main question for the authorities in Kiev would be how the materials to produce such an amount of enriched uranium and plutonium were obtained, as they fall under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. And Ukraine, as a party to international agreements, will have to give explanations. Because the Russian company TVEL, which supplies the nuclear fuel, takes back the spent material and this requirement is clearly enforced, preventing the recipient country from carrying out manipulations that could violate the non-proliferation treaty.
Although robust Russian air defense systems are deployed near the nuclear plant, the area remains a “pressure point” until the Ukrainian militants are pushed back several tens or hundreds of kilometers. After all, there are representatives of the liberated regions of Donbass on one bank of the Dnepr River – in Energodar – while on the other one, in Nikopol and other localities, there are militants of Ukrainian President Zelensky.
The militants of the Kiev regime have repeatedly shown their commitment to nuclear terrorism in recent times. Thus, on the night of March 4, a Ukrainian sabotage group staged an armed provocation, which resulted in an armed clash near the Chernobyl NPP training center. On March 9, Ukrainian nationalists carried out another attack on the substation and power lines feeding the cooling system of the spent fuel storage facility located at the Chernobyl NPP. At the same time, they created obstacles for repairmen to restore the power substation, which could have led to another disaster there had Russian troops not localized these criminal actions.
Apart from Chernobyl, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Azov battalion militants were planning to blow up a reactor at the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology in early March and blame the Russian Armed Forces for a missile attack on the experimental nuclear facility, TASS reported. On March 7, the Japanese Prime Minister expressed his concern about the above-mentioned actions of the Kiev militants during a parliamentary debate. He stressed that the issue was of concern to the entire world. “The international order, including in Asia, has been shaken,” he added.
In this connection, it is pertinent to recall that on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian Federation would not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons, following which Russia launched a military special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. And units of the Russian Airborne Troops soon took control of the area around the Chernobyl and Zaporozhskaya NPPs to prevent nuclear provocations by militants at those facilities.
The fact that Kiev-controlled militants regularly carry out provocations aimed at creating an emergency situation at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, which the West uses to fuel anti-Russian hysteria at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was already brought to international attention by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on March 12: “Attacks against one’s own nuclear facilities are already becoming a trademark of the ruling regime in Ukraine. The blame for this lies entirely with Kiev, US masters of Volodymyr Zelensky and US’s NATO vassals. Without such support these provocations would be meaningless,” she added. “Western political adventurers encouraging Zelensky’s actions are endangering not only the lives of Ukrainians and Russians, but also the entire Europe.” “Having a well-developed nuclear industry, Russia is fully aware of the potential risks to nuclear infrastructure and is doing its utmost to ensure the proper safety of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities,” Zakharova said.
In connection with the above, especially with the July 20 attack by Zelensky’s militants on the Zaporozhskaya nuclear power plant using UAVs, it is surprising that there is no effective international response to such provocative actions by Kiev, which could unleash nuclear Armageddon. And not just for Europe. This brings to mind the attempts by US President Biden and British Prime Minister Johnson to summon an urgent UN Security Council meeting in March in response to propaganda and inflammatory statements by Zelensky on the alleged deterioration of the safety of the nuclear power plants at Chernobyl and Zaporozhye after they were taken over by Russia. Today, however, these “guarantors of Kiev” remain silent, clearly hoping that in the event of a new militant provocation, the threat of a possible nuclear disaster will not affect their countries…
Vladimir Danilov, political observer, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.