Ukraine on Monday accused Moscow of spreading "fake" information after Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone had hit the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The head of Ukraine's centre for countering disinformation, Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, said Russia was intensifying a "campaign of provocation and fakes" after it claimed that Ukrainian forces attacked the plant on Sunday.
Russia is attacking the station "with drones, pretending that the threat to the plant and nuclear safety is coming from Ukraine," Kovalenko said.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Europe's largest such facility, has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of their February 2022 invasion.
Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom said there was a "series of attacks" Sunday, with one drone striking the site's canteen, wounding three staff members, one of them "severely".
Drones also hit a cargo port and the roof of one of the site's six reactors, it said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts at the plant, said the attacks caused a "physical impact" on one reactor and resulted in one casualty, but nuclear safety was not compromised.
Rosatom called on Western nations and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to "categorically condemn the attempt to escalate the situation around the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe".
Kovalenko accused Russia of "manipulating the concerns of the IAEA" and "trying to accuse Ukraine of nuclear terrorism".
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A spokesman for the Ukrainian defence ministry's main directorate of intelligence, Andriy Yusov, had earlier accused Russia of endangering the power station and carrying out "simulated strikes".
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Comments ( 1)
This is just another absurd Kremlin claim / false flag attempt by a desparate and failing regime. Worrisome though it we know past 'flying pig' russian stories, often proceed their more foul destructive activities.
Fact: Ukraine and any downwind nations lose the most if a nuclear meltdown occurs. They would not cause a meltdown. At great risk their people work to re-establish the grid power required to keep these hijacked facilities operating safely. Their key staff remain their working under harsh rule to do the same.
In contrast its well established Putin's regime does not care about civilian deaths or long term environment damage caused by its actions (Chenobyl, Kakhovka Dam), but Ukraine's allied nations should be.
Personally, I'd applaud our allied peacekeeping forces leadership if they decided to bypass the diplomatic pontificators and take command of this nuclear plant. Sure temporarily elected officials would decry usurped power as mutiny. However they allowed this risk to develop in the first place by not enforcing a no fly zone in Ukraine as was requested on day one of the invasion. They did nothing to stop the nuclear plant from being commendered by putins thugs. The situation has festered and escalated for >2 years now. Which level of allied leadership abandoned their responsibility to protect civilians?
This facility should be fully protected by an international peacekeeping force.