Fears are mounting of a nuclear accident in western Russia, where Ukrainian forces began their incursion three weeks ago, after Vladimir Putin claimed a power plant came under fire.
The United Nations’ nuclear has watchdog chief warned of heightened risk at the facility in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops control territory which is ‘the size of Los Angeles’.
International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi, who inspected the site outside the town of Kurchatov, said the reactor is ‘extremely exposed’ to attack.
He said the RBMK-type facility – the same model as Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant – is protected by ‘just a normal roof’.
The site lacks the containment dome and protective structure typical of modern power plants.
‘The core of the reactor containing nuclear material is protected just by a normal roof,’ Grossi told a news conference earlier today.
‘This makes it extremely exposed and fragile, for example, to an artillery impact or a drone or a missile.
‘This is like the building across the street, all right? With all this nuclear material.’
Grossi continued: ‘There is no specific protection. And this is very, very important. If there is an impact on the core, the material is there and the consequences could be extremely serious.’
He added that during his visit of the plant he saw evidence of drone strikes in the area.
The Kremlin has accused Ukrainian forces of attacking the area around the plant, but the army has denied this.
‘I was informed about the impact of the drones. I was shown some remnants of them and signs of the impact they had,’ Grossi said, without actually saying who was responsible.
Despite the ongoing fighting, the nuclear facility is operating in ‘close to normal conditions’.
At the same time, the IAEA is monitoring the Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Grossi will travel to Ukraine next week to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky about the situation at the facility.
The operation in Kursk, the largest incursion into Russia since World War II, has resulted in the occupation of about 500 square miles.
Putin has sent reinforcements into the region but it was not clear to what extent these movements might be weakening his position in eastern Ukraine, where his soldiers were making slow advances in efforts to gain ground in Kharkiv region.
Russia’s defence ministry said that Ukraine has suffered heavy casualties in Kursk – some 6,600 troops either killed or injured – and that more than 70 tanks have been destroyed along with scores of armoured vehicles.
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