The Kursk advance has heated up tempers in the Ukraine war. Russian President Vladimir Putin is now accusing Ukraine of attacking a nuclear power plant.
Moscow/Kursk – Is a new escalation stage looming in the Ukraine War on? Russia’s President Vladimir Putin clearly thinks so. On Thursday (22 August) he accused Ukraine of attacking the nuclear power plant in the Russian border region after the Kursk attack. The nuclear power plant near the city of Kurchatov has four blocks and an output of almost two gigawatts. It is located around 60 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
“The enemy tried to attack the Kursk nuclear power plant today,” Putin told the Russian news agency Cup According to him, this was during a meeting in Moscow about the situation in the Russian border region. He did not provide any evidence for his claim.
After Kursk advance, trenches are dug around nuclear power plants – reports of drone attacks
Putin also said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been informed and was preparing a mission to Kursk. According to its own military, Ukraine has so far captured an area of over 1,260 square kilometers and 93 towns in the Russian border region following its surprise offensive. The part of the armed forces that has advanced the furthest and can be verified is about 30 kilometers from the Kursk nuclear power plant.
It is unclear whether the nuclear plant is even a target of the Ukrainian advance. However, the Kremlin has been somewhat afraid of it since the beginning of Ukraine’s Kursk advance on August 6th. And has taken security measures. According to reports, the Russian nuclear company Rosatom began withdrawing some of its employees from the plant last week. In addition, Russian soldiers dug trenches around the site of the power plant.
According to Russian sources, air raid alarms have been triggered several times around the nuclear power plant in recent days and rocket parts have even been found on the power plant site. There have already been drone attacks, reported the Russian investigative magazine Important StoriesA nuclear power plant employee told the KyivPost, that the workforce was advised to “take cover”.
After the Kursk attack, Moscow repeatedly threatened a harsh response if the nuclear power plant was attacked, without giving any concrete details. Putin made no public statement on this on Thursday (22 August).
“Very concerned” about situation after Kursk attack: Head of nuclear authority travels to nuclear power plant
Meanwhile, a group of people around the IAEA chief, Rafael Grossi, will be visiting the Kursk nuclear power plant next week. This was confirmed by his spokesman for the German Press AgencyThe nuclear power plant is within range of Ukrainian artillery positions, said the IAEA Director General of the Financial TimesHe added: “Since there is fighting, I am very worried.”
Grossi wants to clarify on site, among other things, whether the plant has already been targeted. After the Ukrainian advance began, the authority warned that the safety of nuclear power plants must not be endangered. The same applies to Kursk as to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.
The latter could possibly be the deciding factor as to why Ukraine might dare to attack the Kursk nuclear power plant. Pro-Russian military blogger Alexander Sladkov recently suggested that Ukraine could carry out a kind of ring swap with Russia if it occupied the Kursk nuclear power plant. (dpa/pls)
#Putin #accuses #Ukraine #nuclear #power #plant #attack #war #evidence