Russian MoD spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukrainian “saboteurs” started the fire.
QUICK FACTS:
- Russian troops Friday seized Zaporozhskaya (Ukrainian “Zaporizhzhia”) nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, after a middle-of-the-night attack, The Associated Press (AP) reports.
- The siege resulted in a fire briefly set upon the plant, raising worldwide fears of a catastrophe.
- While mainstream news outlets place blame on Russia for the near-calamity, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the fire was the result of actions taken by Ukrainian “saboteurs” who had attacked Russian troops there.
- After Russian forces fired back, according to Konashenkov, the saboteurs fled and set the building on fire when leaving.
- The Associated Press maintains it was Russia who “set [the plant] on fire.”
WHAT RUSSIA IS SAYING:
- Claims that Russian troops attacked the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant, setting it ablaze, are being called false by Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia.
- “This is all part of an unprecedented campaign of lies and disinformation against Russia,” Nebenzia told a UN Security Council meeting. “You are trying to present the case in such a way that the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant was allegedly shelled by the Russian military and a fire broke out there. These statements are not true.”
- According to the envoy, Russian forces are not interfering with the work of the nuclear power plant, and their goal is to provide its security.
- “The goal is precisely to prevent Ukrainian nationalist or other terrorist groups from using the current situation to organize a nuclear provocation, to ensure the safety of the station, and also to prevent interruptions in the supply of electricity to the population of Ukraine and European consumers,” the Russian envoy stated.
- “We are the most interested in maintaining nuclear and general security in Ukraine, physical and nuclear security, to be properly maintained and ensured in Ukraine,” he went on to say.
BACKGROUND:
- Russian forces have pressed their week-old offensive against Ukraine on multiple fronts and the number of refugees fleeing the country topped 1.2 million.
- The US Embassy in Ukraine decried the incident in Zaporozhskaya, tweeting that “it is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant,” Sputnik noted.
- However, reports emerged later that the US State Department urged all European embassies to not retweet the message or delete it.
- American Faith reported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said that Russian shells damaging the nuclear plant had caused a radiation leak, but his assertion was deemed false by the White House as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency.
