President Zelensky Accuses Russia Of Deliberately Launching Attacks That Cut Power On PLTN Chornobyl

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Russia of trying to create a risk of a nuclear incident, accusing Moscow of deliberately launching an attack that cut off electricity to the deactivated Chornobyl PLTN.

Ukraine's Ministry of Energy said the Russian attack had cut off electricity to PLTN Chornobyl, including detention units set up to minimize contamination from the world's largest nuclear crash in 1986.

Energy officials said the attack also cut off electricity to 307,000 customers in nearby Chernihiv areas.

President Zelensky said more than 20 Russian unmanned aircraft had been deployed in an attack in Slavutych City which cut off electricity to nearby Chornobyl PLTN for three hours.

"Russia certainly didn't realize the attack on facilities in Slavutych would have such an impact on Chornobyl," he wrote in the messaging app Telegram, adding a large amount of used fuel was still left there.

"And this is a deliberate attack in which they used more than 20 unmanned aircraft, according to an initial assessment, belonging to Shahed Russia-Iran," he continued.

The IAEA, the UN's nuclear regulatory agency, issued a statement acknowledging the PLTN had experienced a "fluctuation" after losing its external electric connection, but alternative lines had been used initially and electricity was later restored.

Russia has not commented on the incident.

Meanwhile, a statement by the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy did not mention the possibility of increasing the risk of radioactive release due to power outages to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant which had been closed due to Russian attacks in Slavutych.

"As a result of the power surge, new safe detention facilities, which isolate the fourth power unit of PLTN Chornobyl that was destroyed and prevented the release of radioactive material into the environment, were left without electricity supply," the ministry said.

It is known, after the fourth reactor PLTN Chornobyl exploded in April 1986 and spread radioactivity throughout Europe, Soviet engineers immediately set up "sarcofags" around the reactor.

Sarkofagus was replaced by a new detention structure in 2016, while the other three reactors at the PLTN were gradually stopped operationally.

The PLTN was occupied by Russian troops at the start of the Moscow invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A Russian drone also broke through the roof of the detention structure in February.