DISINFO: Kyiv must stop attacking the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant
SUMMARY
Regular Ukrainian attacks on the facilities of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, including the radioactive waste storage facility, could have disastrous consequences. Influence must be exerted on the Kyiv leadership to stop the strikes on the plant immediately.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Ukraine attacking the Zaporizhzhya power plant. The claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
This is not the first time the Kremlin’s manipulation and disinformation machine has used a deep-seated and very reasonable fear of a nuclear disaster to advance its political and military goals in Ukraine.
There have been an increasing number of reports that Russia uses the nuclear site as a so-called “sheltered” artillery park, "using the facilities to fire on Ukrainian positions in the belief that Ukraine would not fire back and risk a nuclear accident".
The Ukrainian authorities denied the shelling of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (NPP) and accused Russia of dangerous actions that may cause a nuclear catastrophe.
Ukraine supports the mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met IAEA Director General Mariano Grossi on 30 August 2022. Zelenskyy said “the Ukrainian side wants the IAEA mission headed by Director General Grossi to access Zaporizhzhya NPP and make every effort to avoid all the global threats“.
Read our article Playing with nuclear fire and the landmark Ukraine-joint statement (gathering 42 states from Europe, North America, Oceania, South East Asia, the Caucasus and the EU) on the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.
For background see disinformation targeting Ukraine.