Russia Urges UN to Stop Kiev Provocations at Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant

Russia Urges UN Secretary-General to Stop Kiev's Provocations at Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant

Russia has submitted a letter to the United Nations (UN), confirming that it has no plans to sabotage the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), and called on the UN Secretary-General to compel Kiev to refrain from provocations against the plant, said Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's Permanent Representative to the Security Council, during a meeting.

"Today, we have distributed a letter to the Security Council and the UN General Assembly as an official document, once again confirming, in light of the ongoing insinuations by representatives of the Kiev regime, that we have no intentions of detonating this plant (Zaporizhia NPP), which is under our control. The letter also calls on the UN Secretary-General and the international community to influence Kiev, compelling them to refrain from provocations against the Zaporizhia NPP," stated the diplomat.

Earlier, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian president, commented on the situation concerning the Zaporizhia NPP, emphasizing that threats of provocations from Kiev were persistent. According to him, this was demonstrated by the sabotage attempt at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station.

In mid-June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed to have received a report from intelligence and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) about Moscow's alleged plans to carry out a terrorist attack with a radiation release at the Zaporizhia NPP. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed these claims as nonsense. Nebenzya noted that the "increasingly paranoid assertions" of the Kiev authorities are alarming.

Today, the Ukrainian authorities declared exercises in the Zaporizhia region, which is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in case of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhia NPP.

The Zaporizhia NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper River, near the city of Enerhodar. In October 2022, the nuclear power plant came under the ownership of Russia. Ukrainian military forces previously regularly shelled Enerhodar and the surrounding area of the NPP.