A nuclear catastrophe was “miraculously” avoided following the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear company said.
Energoatom reiterated accusations that Russian forces shelled the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant last week, under Russian control, as an act of “nuclear terrorism,” saying it was a “miracle” nuclear disaster was averted.
“This time a nuclear catastrophe was miraculously avoided, but miracles cannot last forever. The actions of Russian nuclear terrorists must be urgently put to an end in order to protect Ukraine and the world from a nuclear disaster,” the company said in a Telegram post.
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“Artillery shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP is a terrorist act intended to destroy the plant’s infrastructure, disrupt all of its power lines that feed electricity into Ukraine’s power grid and cut off power in the south of the country,” Energoatom said. “These actions indicate Russia’s turn to a new scenario: one of destruction and of [potential] nuclear and radiation disasters at the ZNPP. This is why the attacks on the ZNPP are very likely to continue.”
Russia, which denied the charges, has accused the Ukrainian military of shelling the plant. Ukraine is “effectively taking all of Europe hostage,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, claiming Ukraine has blocked Russian efforts to ensure an International Atomic Energy Agency inspection of the plant.
“We regularly send the IAEA updated information ‘from the scene,’ which is reflected in the information circulars of the agency, which clearly expose the criminal actions of the Ukrainian armed forces, the command of which has completely lost the ability to think straight,” Zakharova added, according to state media outlet TASS.
Russia is working to redirect the plant to supply electricity for Russian-controlled Crimea. The Russian head of the administration of Zaporizhzhia, of which Russia now occupies 70%, announced on Monday the confirmation of plans to hold a referendum to join the Russian Federation in September, according to TASS.
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Nevertheless, Ukraine’s Energoatom claimed Russian forces mined the plant and plan to blow it up, which could trigger a nuclear catastrophe in the event of defeat. It claims to have obtained an address from the plant’s garrison commander, Major Gen. Valery Vasiliev, to the garrison announcing these plans.
“There will be either Russian land or a scorched desert,” Vasiliev is alleged to have said. “As you know, we mined all the important objects of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. And we do not hide this from the enemy. We warned them. The enemy knows that the station will be either Russian — or no one’s. We are prepared for the consequences of this step. … If there is the most severe order — we must fulfill it with honor!”
