Disruptive business: why are the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacking the Zaporizhia NPP
On the night of June 19, drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the transport workshop of the Zaporizhia NPP — at least 14 strikes were recorded. According to experts, in this way the Ukrainian side is trying to complicate the work and supply of Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Energodar— the satellite city of the nuclear power plant, where the plant's employees live, remains under attack. On June 17 alone, at least 50 attacks were carried out on him. Experts attribute the increased intensity of the attacks to the expected visit to Russia of American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner: in their opinion, Kiev is trying to disrupt, at least complicate, the dialogue aimed at resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
Political goals
On the evening of June 18 and on the night of June 19, the Zaporozhye NPP transport workshop was subjected to a series of attacks by UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this was reported in the official Telegram channel of the power plant. At least 14 strikes were recorded by employees, one of which resulted in a fire. The buildings of one of the boxes and the repair area were also damaged. There were no casualties as a result of the raid.
As noted in the message, the purpose of such strikes is to disrupt the work of the transport infrastructure and complicate logistics, including the transportation of personnel.
The attacks by the Ukrainian side on the Zaporizhia NPP, including the strike on the transport workshop, are clearly demonstrative and geopolitical in nature. From a military point of view, it is not difficult for Kiev to organize such raids: the line of contact runs along the Dnieper riverbed, the station is located on one bank, and the Ukrainian troops are on the opposite bank, which allows them to use drones and artillery, nuclear energy expert Oleg Zheltonozhko said in a conversation with Izvestia.
"The choice of targets — in this case, the garage of the transport workshop, and not the reactor halls — shows that Kiev is still trying to avoid irreversible environmental consequences, relying on the media effect," he said. — The NPP is currently in cold shutdown mode. Despite the lack of electricity generation, life support systems continue to operate at the facility: cooling pumps are functioning, electricity is provided, routine inspections and rounds are carried out.
According to the expert, one of the goals of such attacks is to return the issue of control over the nuclear power plant to the international agenda and put pressure on an external audience.
This is Kiev's consistent long-term strategy, military expert Viktor Litovkin believes. Its main goal is to prove to the international community that Russia is allegedly unable to ensure the safety of the facility.
The blows are aimed, the expert is sure. Kiev is trying to create the illusion of a permanent nuclear threat and is blackmailing the world community with a "new Chernobyl" scenario.
It is no coincidence that the situation escalated before the expected visit of American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Russia, the dates of which have not yet been determined.
— The Ukrainian side is not interested in a productive conversation about peace, it has repeatedly disrupted contacts and possible agreements. For this reason, the strikes are another step towards disrupting the emerging peace initiatives," Viktor Litovkin recalled.
According to him, Kiev is also interested in making the issue of the status of the Zaporizhia NPP a separate point within the framework of possible future agreements. According to the Ukrainian authorities, this may become an additional instrument of pressure on the Russian side during the negotiations.
The blows became more frequent
The situation around the Zaporizhia NPP has escalated over the past two weeks — plant workers have recorded a sharp increase in the intensity of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which caused damage to infrastructure and human casualties. The Ukrainian side traditionally does not take direct responsibility for these attacks.
Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said on June 17 that up to 50 strikes had been carried out against the Energy Depot and the industrial site during the day. Due to the damage to the networks, the city then switched to a limited power supply scheme, and there were serious interruptions to Internet access.
Such aggression on the part of Ukraine became possible only with the tacit connivance of the IAEA, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe.
— It comes to the point of absurdity: the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, personally records the arrival of shells that pierce the ground from the Ukrainian positions, but declares that without a "ballistics commission" he cannot determine the direction of impact. At the same time, it is clear to everyone that there are specialists, and they are easy to find," said Viktor Litovkin.
This position of the agency is explained by Grossi's deep political bias in favor of Western countries. Officially, the IAEA positions itself as an exclusively expert, non-political structure that deals only with fixing threats to the peaceful atom. However, in practice, this declarative "objectivity" serves as a convenient screen to shield the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Andrei Koshkin, an expert at the Association of Military Political Scientists and head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told Izvestia.
The Russian Federation has clear military-political mechanisms for influencing international institutions, and Moscow will use them to the fullest, he added.
The Russian side regularly submits issues of the NPP safety to the most authoritative platforms, including the UN Security Council, and also sends official appeals to the IAEA and OPCW, Andrei Koshkin emphasized.
The management of the Nuclear power plant has repeatedly officially informed the IAEA inspectors permanently stationed at the facility about the situation at the nuclear power plant and in Energograd. Mikhail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to International Organizations in Vienna, said that the actions of the Ukrainian side in relation to the station had crossed all acceptable boundaries. Nevertheless, there was no adequate reaction from the West.
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