Kyiv revealed a plan, which it described as carrying a great danger, that Moscow is working to implement regarding the Zaporozhye nuclear plant, which was seized by Russia months ago, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared an advanced target for his country during the war.

The Ukrainian company, Energoatom, said on Tuesday that Russian forces were preparing to connect the Zaporozhye nuclear plant (southeast of Ukraine) with the Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, warning that redirecting the plant's production of electricity threatens to harm it.

And the Zaporozhye nuclear plant is the largest in Europe, and Russia took control of it at the beginning of its attack on its neighbor, and last week Kyiv and Moscow exchanged accusations of bombing it.

"The Russian forces present at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant are implementing a program of Rosatom (the Russian operator) aimed at connecting the station to the Crimean power grid," Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, which operates four Ukrainian nuclear plants, told Ukrainian state television.


He added, "To do this, you must first destroy the power lines of the station connected to the Ukrainian power system. From the seventh to the ninth of August, the Russians destroyed 3 lines. Currently, the station operates with only one production line, which is a very dangerous method of work."

Cotten warned that "when the last production line is disconnected, the station will be operated with diesel generators, and everything will depend after that on the capacity of the generators and the available stock of fuel."

Ukrainian warnings

And the Zaporozhye plant - which is located near Crimea - includes 6 reactors out of 15 owned by Ukraine, and is able to provide energy for 4 million homes.

Last Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of the danger of a nuclear disaster in Zaporozhye, calling for more sanctions against Russia.

The President of Ukraine accused Russia of deliberately bombing the Zaporozhye plant and demanded its punishment (Reuters)

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, considered any attack on nuclear power plants to be a "suicidal" act, calling for a halt to military operations in the vicinity of Zaporozhye so that the International Atomic Energy Agency could reach them.

The recent fighting around the plant prompted the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency to warn of a "very real risk of nuclear catastrophe".

Denial of the Kyiv novel

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it did not see an imminent threat to nuclear safety after the bombing of the largest nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye, Ukraine.

"Based on the information provided by Ukraine, the assessment of IAEA experts has concluded that there is no imminent threat to nuclear safety as a result of Saturday's accident," IAEA Secretary-General Rafael Grossi said.

Grossi denied Kyiv's account of damage to the (European) Zaporozhye station.

He added that the Ukrainian authorities had notified the International Atomic Energy Agency that there was damage, but the radiation measurements were still at normal levels.

In recent days, Moscow and Kiev accused each other of launching strikes near the station, which is located in an area controlled by Russian forces.

Crimea

In a related context, the Ukrainian president said that the Russian war on his country should end with "the liberation of Crimea".

Zelensky added - in his evening video speech on Tuesday evening - that "the Russian war against Ukraine began with the occupation of the Crimea, and it must end with its liberation," according to what was reported by a local newspaper.


"Russia has turned our peninsula, which was and always will be one of the best places in Europe, into one of the most dangerous places in Europe. Russia has brought large-scale repression, environmental problems, economic despair and war to Crimea," he said.

Zelensky added that it was "impossible" to say when the liberation would occur, but Ukraine "is constantly adding the necessary ingredients to the formula for the liberation of Crimea."

accusations of the west

On the other hand, the head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, said that "what is happening in Ukraine bears the West's responsibility, because it pushed Kyiv to acquire nuclear weapons that threaten Russian security, which we will not allow."

Commenting on the situation in Ukraine, Slutsky said - in a statement to the Russian channel RT - that "the West bears responsibility for what is happening, because it pushed Kyiv and encouraged it to acquire nuclear weapons, which created risks to Russian security, which Russia did not and will not allow."

He added that "the West wants confrontation with Russia, and what is happening is a confrontation by proxy," noting that Kyiv "has become an arena for foreign wills and an administration to discredit Russia."

He pointed out that "negotiations with the Ukrainian side are frozen and its future cannot be predicted," and explained that "Russian-US relations are at their lowest levels."