Ukraine war: Kyiv warns of imminent Russian false flag operation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Ukraine’s military leadership warned of a possible false flag operation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the coming days. The power station, Europe’s largest and the third largest in the world, has been occupied by Russian troops since 2022, shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. Kyiv’s General Staff said in a post on Facebook on Sunday that the feared operation would make Ukraine appear responsible for whatever took place at the site in southern Ukraine. “Russia is the only terrorist in the world holding a nuclear power plant hostage and using it to blackmail Ukraine and the whole world,” the military officials said. No one but Russia has ever brought the world so close to the brink of a deliberate nuclear catastrophe, the post said. Russia and Ukraine have each accused the other of trying to provoke an incident at the power plant. There is a significant level of international concern about safety at the site as fighting has almost led to disaster several times since Russian troops occupied the site and then laid mines around it soon after invading Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine military chief warns of significantly worsening situation in the east The plant has a capacity of almost six gigawatts. All six of its reactors are now in a cold state. Ukraine’s warnings of nuclear risks come as the country’s cities continue to endure aerial attacks. In the city of Nikopol, not far from the contested power station, at least four people were injured by Russian artillery fire and several houses were reported to have caught fire. In the Dnipro region in south-east Ukraine, 15 people were injured on Sunday by falling debris from a Russian cruise missile that was brought down. Some 30 residential buildings were also damaged, the regional military administration said on Telegram. The reports came after Russian overnight drone attacks on Ukraine that focused on the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, continuing a pattern seen over recent weeks, Ukrainian authorities reported earlier. “Kharkiv is a danger zone. The city is coming under attack from Shahed drones,” city mayor Ihor Terekhov posted on Telegram shortly before midnight on Saturday. On Sunday, the Ukrainian air force reported that all 10 Russian drones over the Kharkiv region had been intercepted. The air attack had targeted critical infrastructure of the city, which lies some 40 kilometres south of the Russian border, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. National public broadcaster Suspilne reported power cuts in some parts of the city. Before Russian launched its invasion in 2022, Kharkiv was Ukraine’s second-largest city and had a population of around 1.5 million. Russia has intensified its attacks on the city since mid-March, hitting power supplies in particular. Given its proximity to the Russian border, the aerial attacks come with little advance warning, and there are fears that the city could gradually become uninhabitable. The village of Vesele, which lies in the region close to the Russian border, suffered a hit. A couple were found dead in their bombed home. In Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry reported on Sunday that 10 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in the early hours over the Krasnodar region in the south of the country. Details about possible targets were not released. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top commander said Russian forces aimed to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by May 9, setting the stage for an important battle for control of high ground in the east where Russia is focusing its assaults. The fall of the town west of the shattered city of Bakhmut by the date Moscow marks the Soviet victory in World War II would indicate growing Russian battlefield momentum as Kyiv faces a slowdown in Western military aid. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who warned this weekend that the situation in the east had deteriorated, said Russia was focusing its efforts west of occupied Bakhmut to try to capture Chasiv Yar before moving towards the city of Kramatorsk. US says China is boosting Russia’s war machine in Ukraine Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region lies 5-10 km (3-6 miles) from Bakhmut, the devastated city captured by Russian forces in May last year after months of bloody fighting. Kyiv’s brigades were holding back the assaults near Chasiv Yar for now and had been reinforced with ammunition, drones and electronic warfare devices, Syrskyi said on the messenger app Telegram. “The threat remains relevant, taking into account the fact that the higher Russian military leadership has set its troops the task of capturing Chasiv Yar by May 9,” he said, without elaborating. Russia marks May 9 with a big military parade on Red Square overseen by President Vladimir Putin who won a new six-year term in the Kremlin at a tightly controlled election in March. President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians in his nightly address on Sunday: “The situation at the front during such a hot war is always difficult. But these days – and especially on the Donetsk front – it’s getting harder”. The Ukrainian leader has warned the Kremlin may be preparing to launch a big offensive in late spring or summer. Additional reporting by Reuters