The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has become the subject of accusations from both Russia and Ukraine.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which Russian forces have been occupying for more than a year, is allgedly the target of a potentially disastrous attack, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia has accussed Ukraine with planning to attack the identical massive Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, southern Ukraine, within the next two days.
While allegations flew back and forth across Ukraine, it was especially tense in the villages and cities close to the Zaporizhzhia plant, including the city of Zaporizhzhia, which was only a few kilometers away and which Russia never succeeded in capturing.
Zelenskyy laid out his claims in detail Tuesday night, saying Russian forces had “placed objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units” at the power plant.
Russia, meanwhile, accused Ukraine of planning to strike the plant with missiles or drones packed with radioactive waste from other nuclear facilities.
The Zaporizhzhia plant has been under Russian control since it was captured just a month after Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Fears of a catastrophe spiked in early June when Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up a major dam upstream of the plant, dropping water levels in a reservoir used to provide cooling water to the Zaporizhzhia facility.
The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency has visited the plant multiple times, including right after the dam explosion, and described the situation there as “serious,” but not an immediate safety threat — unless the cooling pond at the compound, or any other part of it, comes under new attack.
Authorities routinely run emergency drills in the region for civilians to practice what to do in the case of a major incident.
On Wednesday, a Ukrainian government said that in the event of an emergency, residents would receive a text message telling them to either stay inside and seal all doors and windows, or to prepare to flee.
