Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of the Rosenergoatom, part of Russia's state nuclear operator Rosatom, claimed on July 4 that Ukraine's military allegedly plans to strike Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant overnight.
Earlier the same day, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces warned of Russia spreading such disinformation. According to the General Staff, Russian forces have placed objects similar to explosive devices on the roof of the plant's power units, possibly to simulate a Ukrainian attack.
Russia may be preparing a provocation at the occupied Zaporizhzhia plant "in the near future," said the Ukrainian military.
Karchaa alleged, cited by Russian state-owned news agency Interfax, that Ukrainian forces would purportedly hit the plant with long-range weapons, drones, and a Tochka-U missile "with a warhead filled with radioactive waste."
Ukraine's military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov told Channel 24 that such disinformation campaigns could serve as preparation and information cover for Russia's own actions.
Dinara Khalilova
On June 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced, citing intelligence data, that Moscow was considering a terrorist attack on the nuclear power plant through radiation leakage.
Several days later, Ukraine's Military Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov told the New Stateman that Russia had completed preparations for the attack. According to Budanov, Russian troops had additionally mined the plant's cooler and moved the equipment loaded with explosives to four of the six power units.
On July 1, Zelensky told Spanish reporters that Russian troops could give back the station under Ukrainian control after having mined it, only to blow it up remotely.
Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, since March 2022. They have used it as a military base to launch attacks at Ukrainian-controlled territory across the Dnipro River.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
