Ukrainian officials claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning a “terrorist attack” on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and blame it on Ukrainian forces.
Officials on Friday said Putin had “ordered the preparation of a terrorist attack” on the plant amid already rising fear of “nuclear discharge,” following the electric supply being cut off from the plant on Wednesday.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) posted on social media claiming the Russian president is planning a “man-made catastrophe,” and will “try to shift responsibility to Ukraine.” The Russian occupiers will allegedly try to create “fake evidence” to confirm their version of the story, according to the DIU.
The agency claimed on Facebook that car refrigerators were in the area of Antonov airport in Gostomel and that Russians would use them to plant the bodies of dead Ukrainian troops at Chernobyl. Ukraine’s government did not provide any evidence to support its claim.
Chernobyl is currently disconnected from the monitoring stations at the International Atomic Energy Agency. Russians allegedly refused to grant access to the Ukrainian repairman to fix the problem but instead “Belarusian specialists” came in along with “Russian dissidents to organize a terrorist attack,” the agency alleged in its Facebook post.
Since Russia isn’t getting their desired outcome from the ground military or negotiations, “Putin is ready to commit to the nuclear blackmail of the world community for the sake of actions to support Ukraine,” according to the agency.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.