Moscow, Aug 28 (EFE).- The Kremlin accused Ukraine of instigating a “nuclear risk” by attacking the Russian nuclear power plant in Kursk, which has been under threat since Ukraine’s incursion three weeks ago in the Kursk region, something that kyiv categorically denies.
“The Ukrainian side’s guilt in instigating the nuclear risk is more than obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during his daily telephone press briefing.
Peskov noted that on Tuesday, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, was able to see with his own eyes “the results of drone attacks against the plant” and assess the “danger” that these could pose to the plant.
“For obvious reasons, the IAEA claims it lacks the authority to identify those responsible for these attacks, but it is so obvious,” he said.
The Russian National Guard reported today that fragments of a Ukrainian HIMARS missile had been found about five kilometres from the plant, located 70 kilometres from the border with Ukraine.
The power plant is operating normally, the Rosenergoatom corporation announced on Wednesday.
After his first inspection of the plant, Grossi warned on Tuesday against the possibility of a second Chernobyl, the scene of the worst nuclear disaster in history in 1986.
“We believe it is very serious that a power plant of this kind is so close to a battle front,” Grossi told the international press at the end of his inspection visit to the plant, whose reactor – he said – is very exposed to a possible attack.
He considered it an exaggeration to compare the Kursk and Chernobyl power plants, but he did admit that their reactors are of the same class (RBMK).
In this regard, he stated that the plant does not have “the defense and containment structures of other more modern plants,” which – he said – can withstand the impact of an airplane, and stressed that “the reactor core is protected by a normal roof,” pointing to one of the adjacent buildings.
All of this makes the active zone of the reactor “fragile” and “extremely exposed” to “an artillery or drone attack.”
Grossi also announced that he will soon meet in kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose government has denied that it plans to attack or take control of the Kursk nuclear power plant.EFE
