A Ukrainian drone rammed into a nuclear waste storage facility at the Kursk power plant in western Russia on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, urging other governments to condemn the “act of nuclear terrorism” – Reuters
We call on all governments to issue a strong condemnation of Kyiv’s barbaric actions, which are extremely dangerous and could lead to irreparable consequences, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Moscow said Friday morning the drone attack had been successfully repelled, but some media outlets said the blast had damaged the facade of a warehouse where nuclear waste is stored. Saturday’s statement was just the first official confirmation of the damage.
According to preliminary data, the drones used in the attack on the nuclear power plant used components supplied by Western countries, Zakharova reported, adding that such an attack must have had the permission of Ukraine’s allies or possibly been ordered by them.
However, the Kursk nuclear power plant made a statement after the attack saying that there were no casualties and that the radiation level and the plant’s operation were normal. Kyiv usually refuses to confirm or deny military operations on Russian territory.
This is not the first time that the Ukrainian armed forces have been exposed to a nuclear threat. In July, Russia said there was a drone that struck a house in Kurchatov in a town built on the shore of the cooling pond of the Kursk nuclear power plant.
Last August, Russia’s FSB took a series of measures to protect nuclear facilities as Ukrainian saboteurs blew up power lines feeding the Kursk nuclear plant, temporarily disrupting its operations.
