For some days now, Ukraine has warned Russia is considering launching an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Kyrylo Budanov has now said Moscow has finished its preparations and just needs to give the go-ahead. In an interview with New Statesman, the spy chief said the plan is fully “drafted and approved” and that once the go-ahead is given the attack “can happen in a matter of minutes.
He said Ukraine had intelligence that:
- Russian troops have moved vehicles carrying explosives to four of the six power plant units
- The cooling pond of the plant has been mined by Russian forces
- The plant’s nuclear reactors could melt down in space between 10 hours and 14 days if there is no cooling
- Raising the voltage in the power supply lines to the plant could bring about a nuclear accident at the lower end of this timeframe
- Mr. Budanov described two scenarios for a nuclear incident, with one being that Russian forces could blow up the plant if they are ousted from the left bank of the Dnipro River.
The explosion would create a grey zone as a way to prevent Ukraine from advancing. The second scenario would see Moscow using a nuclear disaster as a “preventative measure”, stopping Ukraine’s offensive before it starts and freezing the line of contact. Ukraine has repeatedly warned of an incident at the Zaporizhzhia plant, but Mr. Budanov said the situation “has never been as severe as now”. Teams in Zaporizhzhia are now preparing for a worst-case scenario, with three rounds of training already held in case the plant is targeted. “We knew the Russians could blow up the Kakhovka dam and we know they could target ZNPP,” Taras Tyshchenko, a local health administrator, told The Independent.
“This incident will not be a local or even a national one. It is a global incident.”
(With inputs from agencies)
