/ world today news/ Since Friday, the armed forces of Ukraine have been shelling the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. At the same time, Kiev states that the Zaporizhzhia NPP has been shelled by the Russian military, which is supposedly guarding it. Even the Secretary-General of the United Nations has already suspected that something is wrong and has personally taken it upon himself to send international inspectors to the nuclear power plants, despite Kiev’s resistance. What secret is Ukraine trying to hide by sending shell after shell at the nuclear repository?
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to arrange for agency inspectors to visit the Zaporozhye NPP.
“We are extremely concerned about the situation around the plant and that it could be attacked.” We strongly hope that the IAEA will be able to send inspectors to find out what is happening on the station,” Stephane Dujarric, the world body’s chief’s press secretary, said on Monday. “As the Secretary-General said in Tokyo, any attack on a nuclear plant is suicidal,” Guterres’ spokesman added.
In turn, Washington decided to repeat Kiev’s version that the threat to the nuclear power plant was allegedly from the Russian military. “We continue to call on the Russian Federation to cease all hostilities at or near Ukrainian nuclear facilities and return full control to Ukraine,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said. “We continue to monitor the radioactivity,” she said, adding: “Fortunately, we have not seen any signs of elevated or unusual levels of radiation.”
According to the press secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, on Sunday afternoon, the Ukrainian army resumed shelling on the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP, which began on Friday. According to him, the attack was carried out by the 44th artillery brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the area of the town of Marganets, located on the opposite bank of the Kakhovka dam from the nuclear power plant.
“As a result of Ukrainian shelling, the Kakhovka high-voltage line, which provided electricity to Zaporozhye and Kherson region, was damaged. A power surge occurred at the Zaporozhye NPP, which caused the open switchgear to smoke, the officer said. To prevent a work stoppage, the station’s technical staff has reduced the power of the 5th and 6th reactors to 500 MW, the military department added. According to Konashenkov, a “new act of nuclear terrorism” has been committed, the aim of which is to cause a humanitarian catastrophe in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
In turn, the local authorities specified: the artillery hit the cooling system and the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) storage facility. “In addition to the reactor cooling system, which is very important from the point of view of ensuring safety, now in the affected area are the dry storage area for spent nuclear fuel and the post for monitoring and reporting the radiation situation. These are terrible things, this is nuclear terrorism,” said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Main Council of the Military-Civil Administration of the Zaporozhye Region. He noted that, in fact, the nuclear power plant has become the main target of Ukrainian artillery in the region. If the cooling system is damaged, the reactor can overheat, which will lead to the loss of control over the processes in the reactors, noted Rogov. And a large amount of spent nuclear fuel is stored in the repository.
“The IAEA expresses its desire to go to the NPP with an inspection, with a commission, with an inspection of what is happening,” added Rogov. However, according to him, the Ukrainian authorities have set a condition for this: “They say: come on, get out of there, stop providing security, remove air defense. Can you imagine what would happen if there was no Russian air defense there?” he wonders.
According to the administration of the city of Energodar, where the nuclear power plant is located, the shrapnel munitions of the rocket launched on Sunday fell no more than 400 meters from the operating reactor. As a result, one person died.
Meanwhile, Kiev stubbornly clings to the version that the Russian army itself fired at the nuclear plant. In this regard, Ukrainian President Zelensky called on Sunday for a more decisive response to Russia’s “nuclear terror”. On Monday, Ukrainian diplomat Oleksandr Shcherba said that Zelensky discussed the sanctions against the Russian nuclear sector with the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, Kommersant reports.
Russian experts do not consider it a coincidence that another shelling of the NPP practically coincided with Zelensky’s diplomatic attacks against Russia. “Apparently these actions are synchronized. There are systematic attacks at specific times. They have an integrated approach, like all rational managers,” said State Duma deputy Mikhail Delyagin.
“Such shelling could damage the station’s water supply. It can create an unpleasant incident. At such times, it is necessary to shut down the reactor. The situation is far from safe,” warns the adviser to the president of the Kurchatov Institute, nuclear physicist Alexander Borovoi. “Most likely, these are not random projectiles, but a planned psychological attack on the local population. Back in the day, Ukrainians were scared of Chernobyl. Even a minor accident at a nuclear power plant will be perceived by many as a terrible radiation disaster. Those shelling the plant are trying to spread panic. Besides, they are just trying to cause damage, for the Russians to restore everything there, “the expert believes.
Kiev is playing a double game, energy expert Alexey Anpilogov is convinced. He agrees that the attack on the nuclear power plant is intended to cause panic among the people of Zaporozhye. “This is being done to start the emigration of the population from the liberated part of the Zaporozhye region. The intention to hold a referendum on joining Russia was announced today. If there is no population, Kiev can claim that the vote did not take place, it is illegitimate. “Kiev will claim it anyway, but in this case it will be able to support its claims with real photos of the mass displacement of the population,” Anpilogov explained.
“The reactors themselves are quite difficult to damage – the concrete shell can even withstand the fall of a light aircraft, mortar fire or artillery,” he added. “But the VSU aims at the most vulnerable points of the plant – at the open distribution system and at the backup generator, in order to deprive the nuclear power plant of power and achieve its shutdown,” adds the expert.
In addition to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian Foreign Ministry also commented on the situation in Energodar on Monday. The Kiev regime is “effectively taking the whole of Europe hostage” by shelling nuclear power plants, the situation is becoming more dangerous every day, said the press secretary of the department, Maria Zakharova. She is convinced that a major disaster did not occur “only thanks to the skillful and quick actions of the NPP employees, as well as the Russian forces”, who ensured the complete protection of the facility.
At the same time, Moscow is encouraged by Guterres’ statements in support of the IAEA’s efforts to secure access to the station. If the general secretary’s reaction was “understandable from the beginning”, the current complications could have been avoided, because, seeing his “weakness”, the Ukrainian military made increasingly desperate strikes on the nuclear power plant, Zakharova was outraged.
At the same time, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi aims to visit the nuclear power plant, and the Russian side has done everything necessary for a successful visit, Zakharova recalled.
“The fact that the international mission did not take place is entirely on the conscience of Kiev,” added the representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kiev’s persistent reluctance to allow auditors to arrive is an explanation for a conspiracy, Anpilogov explains. “As it recently became clear, Kiev has created the largest repository for spent nuclear fuel at this plant, and the IAEA has already expressed concern about this. Spent nuclear fuel is an ideal raw material for a “dirty” atomic bomb. The IAEA inspectors, arriving at the site in Energodar, can find discrepancies between the reports they regularly received from Kiev before and the real picture, that is, the actual state of affairs at the production site where the nuclear fuel is stored. This version provides the only reasonable explanation for why Ukraine is shelling its own nuclear power plant,” says Anpilogov.
As for Zelensky’s claims that the Russian army is shooting itself, this legend is not new at all. For 8 years in Donbas, we hear assurances that the militiamen themselves are shelling Donetsk, that is, the neighborhoods where their families and children live,” the expert recalls. Anpilogov is convinced that this is how Zelensky will play with time until the last moment, preventing the IAEA inspectors from reaching Energodar.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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