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Ukraine could cause a nuclear disaster if it keeps bombing the Zaporizhzhia power plant as ordered by the US, according to a propaganda narrative released by Russia's Foreign Ministry and distributed by the state media. In reality, Russia is placing weapons and military equipment on the plant’s site, endangering the nuclear security of Europe.
NEWS: “Ukrainian soldiers bombing the Zaporizhzhia plant might trigger a nuclear disaster. According to the deputy director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Ivan Neciaev, Kyiv is doing that knowingly.
He stressed that a large-scale nuclear disaster is in the interest of the US and its allies. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine are bombarding with maniacal persistence the largest nuclear power plant in Europe – Zaporizhzhia NPP, without thinking about the consequences, violating the resolution and decisions of the IAEA general conference”.
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Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia had voiced concern over Kyiv’s escalating the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The commentary distributed by the ministry reads that the Russian Federation has been warning the Ukrainian authorities not to continue with the provocations towards the nuclear power plant as that might trigger an industrial disaster.
The text stresses the fact that Russia has a “very responsible behavior towards the nuclear targets in Ukraine” and is doing everything possible to ensure their security.
NARRATIVE: At the behest of the US, Kyiv will cause a nuclear disaster in Zaporizhzhia.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was occupied by the Russian military on March 4 this year. Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused Russia of turning the plant into a “military base”.
The Ukrainian company “Energoatom” communicated in July that the Russian army had brought at least 14 units of military equipment to the power plant’s site (missile launchers, tanks, armored vehicles, etc.) The nuclear target is used as a shield by the Russian military, who are aware that Ukraine will not risk firing on the plant.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on August 1 that Russian troops were bombarding the Ukrainian troops from positions near the nuclear power plant, confirming the Ukrainian authorities’ information. He called this “tactic” the “height of irresponsibility” “Of course the Ukrainians cannot fire back lest there be a terrible accident involving the nuclear plant”, Blinken told reporters after the conclusion of UN nuclear non-proliferation talks in New York.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly called on Russia not to take military action near nuclear power plants. The IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has warned that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine, which is under Russian control, is increasingly dangerous and insisted that the agency’s experts be allowed access in order to help avoid a disaster.
According to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, the IAEA mission cannot visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for security reasons. “As long as the plant is occupied by Russia, we cannot guarantee the security of the mission” , the Ukrainian authorities have said.
In July, the deputy director of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management, Maksim Shevciuk, called on the IAEA to put more pressure on Russia to leave the plant. He stated that the plant’s six reactors have a lot of nuclear fuel. Large amounts of nuclear waste are also accumulating.
The Ukrainian army released a video drone footage showing that the Russian positions on the plant’s site were not bombed. Ukrainian officials say they cannot afford to bomb a nuclear plant because the risks are too high.
The EU foreign ministers discussed in mid-July a possible tightening of sanctions against Russia for deploying missile launchers at the nuclear plant. While the international community warns Russia about the danger of a nuclear disaster, the Russian media, without presenting any evidence, accuses Kyiv and the US of wanting it.
In 2016, the UN adopted a resolution, voted by the USA, the EU member states, etc., according to which the international community undertakes never to repeat the Chernobyl nuclear disaster , which took place on the territory of Ukraine on April 26, 1986. Any nuclear disaster will bring damage to the whole world, and not just to a particular state, according to the resolution.
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