Russia allegedly tells nuclear power plant workers to not come in Friday amid concerns of planned incident
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 2 years ago • 15 commentsBy: Josh Lederman and Reuters
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Russia has allegedly told workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant not to show up to work Friday, Ukrainian military intelligence has exclusively confirmed to NBC News.
This comes amid allegations and speculation from both Russia and Ukraine that an incident is being planned Friday at the plant.
On Thursday, Russia threatened to shut down the plant, warning that there was a risk of a human-made disaster due to alleged continued shelling by Ukraine.
But Ukraine has a completely different story, according to Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate.
"There is new information, it arrived about half an hour ago, that for tomorrow, August 19, there is an order for the majority of the staff not to go to work," Yusov told NBC News.
"This is what the Russians told their people, primarily the employees of Rosatom," he said, referring to the Russian nuclear agency.
He said that this might be evidence that Russia is preparing "large-scale provocations" at the power plant Friday.
"We do not rule out the possibility of massive Russian provocations on the territory of the ZNPP tomorrow. This is confirmed by their propaganda, information from our sources, and the behavior of the Russians at the station," he added, referring to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Russia refused to confirm or deny whether any Rosatom personnel are stationed at Zaporizhzhia.
Earlier Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine and what it called its "U.S. handlers" of trying to stage a "minor accident" at the plant in southern Ukraine on Friday in order to blame Russia.
It said the "provocation" was timed to coincide with a visit to Ukraine by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and that it may involve a radiation leak.
Trading blame
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor complex, the largest in Europe, was captured by Russia soon after it invaded Ukraine almost six months ago and has come under repeated shelling, with both Moscow and Kyiv trading blame.
Russia has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of recklessly firing at the plant, while Ukraine says Russia is deliberately using the complex as a base to launch attacks against its population.
NBC News has not verified the claims of either side.
A senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that the simplest solution to the situation would be for Russian forces to withdraw from the plant, remove any munitions stored there and de-mine it.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters Thursday that Moscow was taking measures to ensure safety at the complex and denied it had deployed heavy weapons in and around the plant.
However the ministry said a shutdown of the plant may be attempted if Ukrainian forces continued shelling it.
In a briefing, Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's radioactive, chemical and biological defense forces, said the plant's backup support systems had been damaged as a result of shelling.
Kirillov presented a slide, showing that in the event of an accident at the plant, radioactive material would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia.
A Russian soldier guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. AP
Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the Russian-installed administration in the Zaporizhzhia region, said earlier there was a risk that shelling could damage the cooling system of the reactor complex and was quoted as saying the plant was operating with only one unit.
It is not clear how the plant will be shut down, but the ministry said two of the plant's six units may be put into "cold reserve." The plant accounts for one-fifth of Ukraine's annual electricity production.
Guterres, who is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later Thursday, has called for a halt to all fighting near the plant.
"Russia is worried about the possibility of a disaster at the ZNPP. Russia's Ministry of Defense laughs cynically," Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, wrote on Twitter.
"There is a solution. You just need to take the [munitions] out of the halls, demine the buildings, release the plant's personnel from cells, stop shelling [the southern city of] Nikopol from [the plant's] territory and leave the station. It's simple, isn't it?"
Josh Lederman
Josh Lederman is an NBC News correspondent.
Mary-Ann Russon Reuters
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This is a hostage situation.
Russia has a gun pointed at the head of a nuclear power plant and is daring us that they will unleash a global nuclear fallout crisis.
Fuck Russia.
Fuck Putin.
The sooner we make them irrelevant the better.
Could just be a Russian plot to take focus off of Trump.
Could be Tex, they've stated they have already seen all of the documents, guess Trump showed them all to his favorite little Dicktator tot, and as Trump said in Helsinki, why would he lie ?
You really need to include the /S tag or the TDS driven lemmings will all jump off the same cliff at once trying to prove you right.
Putin would like to thank you for doing his work for him; and for free no less.
You don't know it's for free.
yes, I am sure it is just part of some insidious plot to rule America. Be afraid, be very afraid. Democracy is at stake!!!!!
Fixating on Helsinki, despite no one knowing what went on, is superb. Surely some deal was made, and maybe eventually you will find out the details.
As for the power plant. Both sides are to blame.
Russia shelled it to take it over. It has troops stationed there for security now; and to hold it. Are they launching attacks at Ukraine from it? I am sure they are.
Ukraine for it's part is shelling the plant to try and recapture it. Any damage that occurs to the plant they know will be blamed on the Russians. So they are being far less cautious than would be prudent.
54 billion dollars spent on Ukraine; and that was as of May 20th. There have been at least two more spending bills added since then for Ukraine- at about 2 billions dollars total. That is just the money we know about. No telling how much more was sent w/o our know in the name of national security and covert operations.
All of that for a stalemate that doesn't look like it will ever end. It is a Ukraine government that coddles Fascist/Nazis vs the Russian Communists. Whichever side wins we will lose in the end as normal. Our foreign policy is stuck on stupid.
Yup, if only Ukraine had not resisted the Russian invasion......./sarc
So, their government doesn't coddle and except Fascists and Nazis?
Ukraine isn't committing war crimes?
How much money do you want to dump into another shit hole country? Wasn't Afghanistan and Iraq enough in failed US nation building? Think Ukraine will ever pay us back for the billions we have given them?
In our country white nationalists' rights are protected until they storm the Capital.
Weak sauce.
Then 6 links about racism at the borders as war crimes?
Weaker sauce.
Britain eventually paid back their Lend Lease agreements, if Ukraine prevails,
even in it's current state, they will too.
Ronin, and a few others have been pro Putin, anti-Ukraine since the invasion. He has never supported Ukraine's opposition to Russia's invasion.
In case of a meltdown, Russia should remember that the prevailing winds are from the West.
I don't know why that hasn't been emphasized. The part of Ukraine that Putin wants most will be poisoned. The Stans will take a bath as well as southwest Russia, and Xi's gonna be really pissed.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant cannot become another Chernobyl. Zaporizhzhia utilizes completely different technology; they are water reactors and not carbon piles. The worst case is that Zaporizhzhia becomes another Fukushima Daiichi. But that is unlikely because, again, the technology is different.
The Kiev government's biggest fear is that the Russians protect the reactors by shutting them down and preparing to poison the reactors. Avoiding another Fukushima Daiichi isn't that difficult but it would require killing the reactors. Zaporizhzhia would be permanently off-line.
The Zaporizhzhia plant is a 5 gigawatt generator. Shutting down Zaporizhzhia means large sections of Ukraine goes dark. Kiev may even be affected. Crimea does not obtain electrical power from Zaporizhzhia so shutting down the reactors wouldn't cause the Russians any pain. There have been some reports that the Russians are planning to connect the Crimean grid to Zaporizhzhia but taking that possibility away doesn't change anything for the Russians.
The westernized version of the Ukrainian war hasn't really reported the reality of the situation. Ukraine is burning through NATO's weapons and munitions. Russia hasn't committed the bulk of its military to Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has become a war of attrition. Ukraine has become a battle of logistics and manufacturing. And Russia has been strengthening ties with China while the United States has been kicking the sleeping dragon. Russia has more control over what is happening in Ukraine than the west wants to acknowledge. And apparently Russia wants a war of attrition as much as does the west. The outcome will be determined by who has deeper pockets.