Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Putin is prepared to authorise a “terrorist attack” on a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that will result in grave civilian casualties.
The president of Ukraine said that his intelligence agents had learned of a plot involving “the release of radiation” from the nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia.
He went on to say that since “radiation knows no national borders and who it hits is determined only by the direction of the wind,” other European nations could be impacted.
The Russians are ‘considering’ whether to launch the attack but have ‘prepared everything’ needed for it, Mr Zelensky added.
His warning, which came in a video statement, follows claims by Ukraine’s spy chief that Russia has laid mines at Zaporizhzhia since occupying it last February.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, said the mines were placed beneath the plant’s cooling pond, a large man-made reservoir used to keep machinery at safe temperatures.
The plant’s six reactor cores have been put into ‘cold shutdown’, which means damaging or destroying the pond would be unlikely to cause a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl – when a reactor melted down and exploded.
But a number of other cooling systems critical to safety are still required to stay running, and could lead to severe radiation leakage if knocked out.
The Kremlin dismissed Ukraine’s allegation as ‘another lie’.
Mr Zelensky did not base what evidence the assertion was based on, but added: ‘The world has been warned, so the world can and must act.
‘We share all available information with our partners – everyone in the world. All the evidence. Europe, America, China, Brazil, India, the Arab world, Africa – all countries, absolutely everyone should know this. International organizations. All of them.
‘There should never be any terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants, anywhere. This time it should not be like with Kakhovka: the world has been warned, therefore, the world can and must act.’
It was previously suggested Russia could be planning to simulate a radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia in order to hamper Ukraine’s new counter-offensive.
The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine claimed it had identified a plan to shell the plant and announce a major radiation leak, which would force an investigation by independent nuclear authorities, during which time all hostilities would be forced to stop.