Ukraine war: Russia planning attack on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, claims Zelenskyy

FILE - Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen from around twenty kilometers away in an area in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.
FILE - Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen from around twenty kilometers away in an area in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. Copyright AP Photo
Copyright AP Photo
By Joshua Askew
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Ukraine's President warned on Thursday Russia is preparing a "terrorist attack with radiation leakage".

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia is planning an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. 

The Ukrainian President described it as a "terrorist attack" that would cause "radiation leakage". 

"They have prepared everything for this," he wrote on Twitter Thursday morning, saying his claim is based on a report from Ukraine's Security Service. 

Euronews cannot independently verify his claim. 

Zelenskyy warned that such an attack on Europe's largest nuclear plant would have devastating consequences for Ukraine and beyond. 

"Unfortunately, I have repeatedly had to remind that radiation has no state borders, and who it will hit is determined only by the wind direction," he wrote. 

Ukraine's Chernobyl disaster, which happened n 1986, had a devastating effect on countries around the world. 

Radioactive material contaminated Belarus, Ukraine and Russia primarily, but spread to Scandinavia, the Balkans and eastern Europe.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine should share all available information with its partners.

"Europe, America, China, Brazil, India, the Arab world, Africa – all countries, absolutely everyone should know this," he wrote. "International organisations. Everyone."

His comments come after this month's destruction of the huge Kakhovka dam in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine. 

Kyiv has accused Russia of being behind the sabotage, which held a reservoir of water the size of the US Great Salt Kale, though Moscow denies this.

"There should never be any terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants anywhere," he added. "This time it should not be like with Kakhovka – the world has been warned, so the world can and must act."

Russian forces seized Zaporizhzhia during the early days of the war in March 2022, though it is still run by Ukrainian personnel. 

The site has come under repeated fire, prompting warnings from the UN nuclear agency that the world risked a "severe nuclear accident" this May.

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