Rehearsal for catastrophe: Zelensky sounds warning over nuclear drills amid fears for seized plant
Volodymyr Zelensky last night warned of a possible nuclear catastrophe as Kyiv held drills near an atomic plant seized by Russia.
The Ukrainian president lashed out at Moscow over its ‘nuclear blackmail’ at the Zaporizhzhia station, the largest in Europe.
Both sides have traded allegations, blaming the other for shelling the plant throughout the six-month war.
Russia seized the site in early March and has turned it into a base from where it can hit nearby towns, meaning Ukrainian forces cannot fight back without the risk of causing a widespread disaster in which deadly radioactive fallout is released.
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers in Zaporizhzhia during a simulation of a nuclear incident on Wednesday
‘This deliberate terror on the part of the aggressor can have global catastrophic consequences,’ Mr Zelensky said.
‘The UN must ensure the security of this strategic object, its demilitarisation and complete liberation from Russian troops.’
His comments came after talks with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv that included boosting Ukrainian grain exports and ways to end the war.
Tensions around the plant have led to fears of another Ukrainian nuclear disaster similar to the one in Chernobyl in 1986.
Shortly after the talks, Ukrainian officials warned Russia was preparing to stage a ‘provocation’ at the site on Friday.
The country’s defence intelligence agency said staff with Russia’s Rosatom nuclear power company had left the site but gave no further details about what a possible incident would look like.
Mr Guterres said: ‘Agreement is urgently needed to re-establish Zaporizhzhia’s purely civilian infrastructure and to ensure the safety of the area.’ Russia rejected calls for a demilitarised zone but claimed UN inspectors would be able to visit it ‘in the near future’.
Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s state nuclear energy agency Energoatom, claimed around 500 Russian troops and 50 armoured vehicles were at the plant, which is still being operated by Ukrainian engineers.
Moscow dismisses those allegations as completely fabricated.
Russian foreign ministry spokesman Ivan Nechaev insisted yesterday that ‘the Ukrainian military must be forced to cease shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to prevent a nuclear disaster’.
Russia’s defence ministry also claimed Ukraine was planning a ‘false flag provocation’ today.
Workers in gas masks and hazmat suits practiced evacuating an injured man and scanning him for radiation during the drills this week
In a sign of how seriously Ukrainian officials were taking the threat, a simulation of a nuclear incident was held on Wednesday.
‘Nobody could have predicted that Russian troops would be firing on nuclear reactors with tanks. It is incredible,’ said Ukrainian interior minister Denys Monastyrsky.
After watching a drill, he said Ukraine should be prepared because ‘as long as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is controlled by Russia, there are major risks’.
Emergency workers in gas masks and hazmat suits took part in exercises, practicing evacuating an injured man, scanning him for radiation and washing contaminated vehicles.
Responders were checked for radiation before being washed and disposing of their gear.
It comes as a report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy think-tank showed no major European power made new pledges for military aid to Ukraine in July.
