The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has again claimed Russia may be planning to “simulate an attack” on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, claiming that Russian troops have placed “objects resembling explosives” on the roofs of buildings at the site.
Citing Ukrainian intelligence, Zelenskiy said the objects had been positioned on the roof of several power units of the power plant that is currently held by Russia.
Earlier on Tuesday, Zelenskiy briefed the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Russia’s “dangerous provocations” at the plant in south-eastern Ukraine. He said he and Macron had “agreed keep the situation under maximum control together with the IAEA”, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
On Wednesday, the IAEA said its experts based at the plant said they had not observed any indications of mines or explosives at the plant, but more access was needed to be sure.
“The IAEA experts have requested additional access that is necessary to confirm the absence of mines or explosives,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement. “In particular, access to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4 is essential, as well as access to parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant.”
Zelenskiy’s warnings echo comments he made last week at a joint news conference in Kyiv with the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. “There is a serious threat because Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station, which could lead to a [radiation] release,” Zelenskiy said at the time.
Russian troops seized the station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, in February 2022. Each side has since regularly accused the other of shelling around the plant and risking a major nuclear mishap.
Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, which operates Russia’s nuclear network, said Ukraine planned to drop ammunition laced with nuclear waste transported from another of the country’s five nuclear stations on the plant.
“Under cover of darkness overnight on 5 July the Ukrainian military will try to attack the Zaporizhzhia station using long-range precision equipment and kamikaze attack drones,” Russian news agencies quoted Karchaa as telling Russian television. He offered no evidence in support of the allegation.
A statement issued by the Ukrainian armed forces on Tuesday, quoted “operational data” as saying that “explosive devices” had been placed on the roof of the station’s third and fourth reactors and an attack was possible “in the near future”.
“If detonated, they would not damage the reactors but would create an image of shelling from the Ukrainian side,” the statement on Telegram said. It said the Ukrainian army stood “ready to act under any circumstances”.
In his nightly video message, Zelenskiy said Russia was planning to “simulate an attack” on the plant. “But in any case, the world sees – and cannot fail to see – that the only source of danger to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Russia. And no one else.”
Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian military provided no evidence for their assertions.
On Friday Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (GUR) claimed Moscow had approved a plan to blow up the station and has mined four of the six power units, as well as a cooling pond.
It also said that Russian troops were reducing their presence at the plant and that Ukrainian employees who stayed at the plant and signed contracts with Rosatom had been told to evacuate by Monday, preferably to Crimea.
While the reactors would be difficult to damage, according to former plant workers who spoke to the Guardian, the small cooling pond is vulnerable to an explosion, which could cause partial nuclear meltdown comparable to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US. Oleksiy Kovynyev, a former senior engineer, said that in this scenario, most radiation would be contained, but that if ventilation channels were opened, radiation could be released.
Reuters contributed to this report
