Ukraine Accuses Russia of Using Nuclear Plant to Blackmail West
As fighting intensifies around the Zaporizhzhia plant, warring countries trade blame for risk of nuclear accident
KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to blackmail Kyiv and its allies, urging tougher sanctions against Moscow after recent shelling in the vicinity of the facility prompted warnings of a nuclear accident.
Fighting around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has intensified in recent days as both Russia and Ukraine struggle to make meaningful gains on the battlefield almost six months into a war that has worn both sides down.
Russian troops who have been dug in around the plant since the early days of the invasion have repeatedly lobbed artillery at Ukrainian positions across the Dnipro River near the city of Nikopol, which came under fire again overnight. Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said 20 Russian artillery rounds had landed in Nikopol, damaging housing and infrastructure. The nearby towns of Maharnets and Zelenodolsk were also struck, he said.
Officials in Kyiv say the Russian attacks seek to goad Ukrainian forces into responding. They also accuse Russian forces of shelling the territory around the plant themselves, creating the specter of a nuclear catastrophe to force Kyiv to the negotiating table.
“They arrange constant provocations with shelling of the territory of the nuclear power plant and try to bring their additional forces in this direction to blackmail our state and the entire free world,” Mr. Zelensky said in an address late Saturday evening.
“Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots under the cover of the plant, must understand that he is becoming a special target for our intelligence, for our secret service, for our army,” he said.
Russian officials say that Ukrainian forces are shelling the plant, and Moscow has repeatedly warned of the danger of a major nuclear incident.
The United Nations’ nuclear regulator, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has lobbied for months to negotiate safe passage to inspect the plant, which is still being operated by Ukrainian workers.
Ukraine’s energy regulator Energoatom said periodic shelling near the plant since last week had caused a serious risk to its safe operation. One of three operating power units has been disconnected as a result, it said, and emergency protection of one of the power units was also activated.