A Kremlin-backed leader has issued Russia’s latest dire threat of annihilation by warning of strikes against Britain and the US if Western-backed Ukraine tries to retake the Zaporizhia power plant.
The largest nuclear facility in Europe has been on Russian-held territory since March, but continues to be operated by Ukrainian technicians working under the barrels of Putin’s troops.
Kyiv claims the Russian commander in charge wired it with explosives and threatened to blow it up if Ukraine tried to take it back.
There are also fears that Putin’s forces will use a disaster at the plant as a false flag pretext to justify a further escalation of violence.
Kremlin-backed TV channel Rossiya 1 last night broadcast Moscow’s latest saber-rattling in response to the crisis after renewed artillery shelling last week, both sides blamed on each other.
Yuri Kot, leader of the pro-Russian Ukrainian movement Parus, claimed that it is Kyiv and the West that are endangering nuclear safety, not Putin.
A soldier with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
Yuri Kot, leader of the pro-Russian Ukrainian movement Parus, claimed that it is Kyiv and the West that are endangering nuclear safety, not Putin
He said: “We all understand that very well [Ukraine and the West] create a fictional reality. We deal with reality.
“We need to communicate this to Ukraine and its supporting countries – first and foremost Britain and America – and make it clear.
“If the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is damaged and a disaster occurs, two missiles will immediately hit your decision centers.
‘One in Washington, the other in London. atomic.
‘And that’s it. There will be no more talk.’
The largest nuclear site in Europe has been on Russian-occupied territory since March
![Putin has boasted that his new Sarmat [Satan-2] (pictured) and Tsirkon nuclear missiles are](https://www.spamchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/1660044747_610_Pro-Kremlin-guest-says-Putin-should-attack-UK-US-if-disaster.jpg "Pro-Kremlin guest says Putin should attack UK, US if 'disaster' happens at Ukraine's power plant 6")
Putin has boasted that his new Sarmat [Satan-2] (pictured) and Tsirkon nuclear missiles are “unstoppable” by western defenses.
Kot’s belligerent statement was slammed by talk show colleague Aleksey Mukhin, head of the Center for Political Information, who said: “This would trigger the mutual destruction protocol, so to be honest I would refrain from making such statements.”
Putin has boasted that his new Sarmat [Satan-2] and Tsirkon nuclear missiles are “unstoppable” by western defenses.
Propagandist Igor Korotchenko — a reserve colonel and editor-in-chief of Russia’s National Defense magazine — warned of a nuclear winter even without a missile attack, caused by the gas shortages that Putin is forcing on the West.
“So this world is doomed,” he claimed.
“Millions of Europeans … are afraid of the coming winter. It’s going to be like a nuclear winter.
“An apocalypse before our eyes. Power cuts, lack of fuel, looters on the streets, arguments with the police and people’s desperate attempts to survive.
“There will be no food, no electricity and no gas. And the main thing is, there will be no hope.’
Major General Valery Vasilyev, who commands Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops, has reportedly told Ukraine about the bombings in Zaporizhia, warning: “This will either be Russian land or scorched earth.”
Vasilyev also told his men that even if “the harshest order is given to them, we must fulfill it with honor,” according to Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom.
It comes after a weekend of artillery attacks on the plant that damaged power lines, knocked out sensors and wounded a worker. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the strikes.
Russia has been accused of wiring Europe’s largest nuclear power plant with explosives that will be detonated when Ukraine tries to take it back (file image)
Vasilyev’s words were also shared by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and Anton Gerashchenko, a senior adviser to the Interior Ministry.
“Nuclear blackmail for the whole world,” Gerashchenko said.
Meanwhile, Energoatom head Petro Kotin warned of a Chernobyl-style disaster if containers of spent nuclear fuel were hit at the facility – saying it would be “impossible to estimate the magnitude of this disaster” if two or more were injured would.
Kotin called for a “demilitarized zone” to be established around the facility and for an international team of “peacekeepers” to be sent to protect it.
Antonio Guterres, speaking from Japan to commemorate the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima, described the attacks on Zaporizhia as “suicidal”.
The Zaporizhia plant was attacked twice last week – once on Friday and then again on Saturday, local authorities said.
The first attack damaged a pylon leading to the site and the second damaged three safety sensors and wounded a worker.
One of the power plant’s six nuclear reactors had to be shut down after the first attack, Ukraine said, but only as a precaution.
“A nuclear disaster was miraculously averted, but miracles cannot last forever,” Energoatom posted after the attacks ended.
President Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of using “nuclear terror” as a weapon as Putin’s invasion of the country stalls.
But Moscow has accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack and said Western allies should press to stop the shelling.
Events at the Zaporizhzhia site – where Kyiv claimed Russia hit a power line on Friday – have alarmed the world.
Guterres said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs access to the facility.
“We fully support the IAEA in all their efforts to set the stage for the stabilization of the facility,” Guterres said.
IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi warned on Saturday that the latest attack “underscores the very real risk of a nuclear catastrophe”.