Kremlin Reiterates Russia Has Not Placed Heavy Weapons at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

PLTN Zaporizhia Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Maxim Gavrilyuk)

JAKARTA - The Kremlin said on Tuesday Russia was not stationing heavy weapons at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in southern Ukraine.

Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russian troops of using the nuclear facility, which Russia captured in the first days of the conflict, as a de facto weapons depot.

The scramble for the nuclear plant in the 10-month conflict has raised fears of a possible Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster, with Kyiv and Moscow accusing each other of reckless behavior.

Both sides accuse each other of shelling Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday Russia was staying in touch with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is trying to mediate in the demilitarized zone around the power plant.

"I would like to remind you of the words of President Vladimir Putin: There was not yet - and there was not - heavy weapons at the power plant. This can be easily confirmed by the IAEA staff who are there day and night," Peskov stressed, cited from Reuters, December 13.

Peskov's remarks responded to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said an agreement had been reached to remove heavy weapons from the Zaporizhzhia power plant.

President Macron on Tuesday said that talks were ongoing regarding the "modalities" of how that could be accomplished, adding that the "coming weeks will be critical" to ensure the protection of nuclear plants.