Zelensky warns Russia planning 'nuclear terror attack' to unleash massive radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia plant | The Sun
UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Russia is planning a nuclear terror attack in Zaporizhzhia.
Zelensky said that Vladimir Putin's forces were preparing to unleash a radiation leak at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
He posted on social media: "Intelligence services have received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – a terrorist act with the release of radiation. They have prepared everything for this."
The Kremlin dismissed the claims that Russian troops were preparing an attack at the nuke plant.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "This is another lie. There were just contacts with the IAEA at the site- a very high assessment from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).
"They saw everything, everything they wanted to see."
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Europe's biggest nuclear power plant has been under Russian occupation since the beginning of the war in March last year.
The two sides have accused each other of shelling the vast complex, and international efforts to establish a demilitarised zone around it have failed so far.
"Unfortunately, I have had to remind (people) more than once that radiation knows no state borders. And who it will hit is determined only by the direction of the wind…" Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian President's statement comes just two days after Kyiv's military intelligence chief accused Russia of "mining" the cooling pond that is used to keep the reactors cool at the Zaporizhzhia plant.
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Speaking on TV Kyrylo Budanov head of the GUR agency, said: "…Most terrifying is that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was additionally mined during that time… namely the cooling pond was mined."
The nuke plant has been shelled multiple times since the invasion sparking fears it could trigger a nuclear disaster.
A power outage at Zaporizhzhia last month raised concerns about a radiation leak with both sides blaming the other for the attack.
Ukraine's state-owned power generating company Energoatom said the outage was due to Russian shelling overnight of an external power line.
Earlier this month a key hydroelectric dam that provides water to help cool the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) blew up and collapsed causing a massive flood in the area.
Experts warned of catastrophic consequences if the collapse of Nova Kakhovka interfered with the plant’s essential water or power supplies.
The plant has six nuclear reactors – five in cold shutdown and one in hot shutdown – and is currently being run by a skeleton crew.
Energoatom chief Petro Kotin said the fall in the levels of the Kakhovka reservoir would not affect the level of water in cooling ponds at the facility's spent nuclear fuel storage pools.
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However, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency warned that a prolonged absence of cooling water at the plant would disrupt the work of its emergency diesel generators.
The Russian leader was branded a “lunatic” for essentially turning the dam into a makeshift nuclear bomb.
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