Oct 28 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian drone crashed into a nuclear waste warehouse at the Kursk power plant in western Russia on Thursday, damaging its walls, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, calling on other governments that condemn “an act of nuclear terrorism.”
According to a statement from the ministry, Ukraine must have known that its actions could have caused a large-scale nuclear catastrophe that would have affected many countries.
“We call on all governments to strongly condemn Kiev’s barbaric actions, which are extremely dangerous and could have irreparable consequences,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
Russia and Ukraine, which operate nuclear power plants, have accused each other of creating risks of nuclear catastrophe with irresponsible attacks, and the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has closely monitored the situation in Ukraine.
Moscow declared Friday that it thwarted a drone attack on Thursday and two media outlets said an explosion had damaged the facade of a nuclear waste warehouse. Saturday’s statement was the first official confirmation of the damage.
Zakharova said one drone loaded with explosives had damaged the walls of the nuclear waste facility, while two others had hit a complex of administrative buildings.
“According to preliminary data, the drones used in the attack on the nuclear power plant used components supplied by Western countries,” he said, adding that such an attack must have had the permission of Ukraine’s allies or possibly been ordered by them.
The Kursk plant, located in a region bordering Ukraine, declared after the attack that there were no casualties and that radiation levels and operations were normal.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday. kyiv generally refuses to confirm or deny military operations on Russian territory.
Russia reported in July that a Ukrainian drone had hit an apartment building in Kurchatov, a town built on the banks of a cooling pond at the Kursk nuclear power plant.
The Russian security service FSB stated in August last year that security around nuclear facilities had been tightened after Ukrainian saboteurs destroyed power lines supplying the Kursk plant, temporarily disrupting its operation.
Kursk is one of several Russian regions that have regularly suffered drone attacks over the course of the 20-month war. The governor of Kursk reported a previous drone attack in Kurchatov on September 1.
Thursday night’s incident came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian drone strike in Ukraine’s western region of Khmelnytskyy had likely targeted the area’s nuclear power plant.
The IAEA said the attack had destroyed “numerous windows” at the site, but had not affected the Ukrainian plant’s operations or its connection to the power grid.
Reuters could not independently confirm either incident. (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; additional reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)
Source: Ambito
