Ukraine warns blowing of Zaporizhzhia NPP will become 'disaster' for Russia's Crimea too

The head of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, Oleksandr Starukh, warned of Russia's intention to blow the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and anticipated that "if Moscow tries to blow the site, it would become a disaster for not only Ukraine but also for Russia's Crimea". According to the administration, the site contains 1,200 tonnes of nuclear fuel. "If Russia decides to commit a terrorist attack, the nuclear disaster will affect the territories of both Russia and Ukraine," the administration said in a Telegram post on Monday. "One nuclear bomb contains 9 kilograms of uranium or plutonium, and our station has 1,200 tons," it added.

Further, the Ukrainian military claimed that the situation tailored by the Russians was inevitable and added it was impossible to conduct military operations with the use of heavy equipment on the territory of the nuclear power plant. It simply violates the logic of human existence, noted the Zaporizhzhia administration. The latest remarks came as both-- Russia and Ukraine-- traded accusations that each side is shelling Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. On one hand, Moscow claimed that Ukrainian shelling caused a power surge and fire and forced staff to lower output from two reactors, on the other hand, Kyiv has blamed Russian troops for storing weapons there.

Blame game on Zaporizhzhia NPP

While addressing a press conference on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Kyiv was attacking the plant and urged Western powers to force a stop to that. "Shelling of the territory of the nuclear plant by the Ukrainian armed forces is highly dangerous. It's fraught with catastrophic consequences for vast territories, for entire Europe," said Peskov. However, Ukraine's military intelligence spokesman, Andriy Yusov, countered the statement and claimed Russian forces have planted explosives at the plant to head off an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive in the region. Also, the spokesman appealed to Russia to make a goodwill gesture and hand over control of the plant to an international commission and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). He added if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want to hand over the control to IAEA, the Ukrainian military is ready to take charge.