Fears over a false flag operation by Vladimir Putin's forces at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine are being ramped up after warnings about the consequences of a man-made disaster.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine has been held by Russian invaders since March this year, but is still operated by Ukrainian engineers.
Kremlin man Nikolai Patrushev, known as an avid supporter of the invasion of Ukraine, said: "If a man-made disaster occurs, its consequences will be felt in all corners of the world."
News agency Tass reported him as accusing the US and UK of being responsible if such an eventuality did happen, sparking fears of retaliation and a false flag operation to justify it.
Patrushev told a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tashkent: "With American encouragement, the Ukrainians, without stopping, are striking critical infrastructure facilities of the Zaporizhzhia NPP."
Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence, said: "There is an order for the majority of the [power plant’s] staff not to go to work.
"This is what the Russians told their people, primarily the employees of [Russian nuclear agency] Rosatom."
Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the plant currently used as a military base by Russia.
Russia says there were 12 attacks resulting in more than 50 explosions of artillery shells and five kamikaze drones by the Ukrainians. This is denied by Ukraine.
The Russian embassy in the US said: "The purpose is to create an exclusion zone of up to 30km and accuse Russia of nuclear terrorism."
One of Putin's favourite propagandists raved on TV: "Our military has just shown [that] you are shelling a nuclear power plant [Zaporizhzhia] with 155mm artillery and other NATO thingies.
"And, like fools, you scream that Russians are shelling themselves with NATO weapons. Are you idiots? If it blows up, we have protective suits and we won’t stop our military actions."
Accusing the US of "putting money" into a "nonentity" President Volodymyr Zelensky, he added: "Our army was trained to work in conditions of [radioactive] contamination [If it blows] where will you take all the Germans and Poles and others?”
Russia's defence ministry recently said a disaster would lead to Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine being covered in a deadly radioactive cloud.
The fighting over the plant has led to real concern across the world as Ukrainian emergency services have been seen conducting drills in the event of a disaster.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently called for the plant to be demilitarised and members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be allowed in to inspect it.
He accused Russia of posing "a serious threat to the safety and security of these facilities," while Director General of the IAEA Rafel Grossi is already on record as being concerned by the situation at the Zaporizhzhia.
He said: "I'm extremely concerned by the shelling at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond.
"Military action jeopardising the safety and security of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is completely unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs.
