Russian president Vladimir Putin has accused Ukrainian troops of launching the same kind of attack Moscow initiated years ago.
On Thursday, he claimed Ukraine was trying to target Russia’s nuclear power station in Kursk as part of its ongoing incursion in the region.
In a statement shared with the Russian state news agency TASS, Putin said: “Tonight, the enemy attempted to carry out strikes at the nuclear power plant.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] has been notified, they promise to come over themselves and send specialists to assess the situation.
“I hope that they will follow through eventually.”
He offered no clear evidence to back up the allegation and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine, " target="_blank" class=" js-entry-link cet-internal-link" data-vars-item-name="Reuters" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="66c73b42e4b0b9c7b3608d11" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="/%3Casset-code%20id=%2266c74acf24000032008101ee%22%20type=%22image%22%3E%3C/asset-code%3E" data-vars-target-content-type="feed" data-vars-type="web_internal_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="7">Reuters reported.
Kursk contains one of the country’s top nuclear power stations.
And on August 6, Ukraine launched an incursion into the country, breaching Russia’s borders for the first time since World War 2.
It now occupies around 1,000 sq km of Russian land.
Russia has reacted furiously, despite occupying 18% of Ukrainian land (109,000 sq km) since invading the country in 2022.
While it’s not yet clear if Ukraine has been targeting the Russian nuclear plant, Moscow actually seized Ukraine’s own nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia more than two years ago.
It has since been caught in the crossfire on multiple occasions throughout the war, sparking international concern of a nuclear disaster.
The IAEA chief, Rafael Grossi, is set to visit Kursk soon amid concerns the same fate could hit the Russian nuclear plant, too.
He has acknowledged that the power station is “technically” in the artillery range of Ukraine’s current positions, and said he is taking the possible threat “very seriously”.
He told the Financial Times: “Since there is combat, I’m very concerned.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned last week that they believed an attack on Kursk’s nuclear power plant was coming.
According to TASS, spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: “We call on the international organisations – in particular, the United Nations and the IAEA – to immediately state their condemnation of the provocative actions begin prepared by the Kyiv.
“The entire international community must realise the danger, posed by the neo-Nazi Kiev regime for the entire European continent, regime, and to prevent a violation of nuclear and physical security of the Kursk NPP, which may result in a large-scale man-made disaster in Europe.
“Attempts at intimidation and terror against entire regions and the international community in general must be decisively thwarted by joint efforts.”
Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia station despite agreeing to the UN principles that nuclear plants should not be attacked or occupied.