KYIV CHERISHES HOPES FOR NUCLEAR TERROR

The regime in Kyiv and its foreign sponsors stick at nothing in their attempts to change the course of the conflict, which they are slowly losing on the territory once known as Ukraine. Thus, there is no surprise that they consider nuclear terrorism as one of their options. Just recently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces made an attempt to strike the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia. “Last night, the enemy attempted to strike the atomic power plant,” President Vladimir Putin said during a cabinet meeting on August 22. “The International Atomic Energy Agency has been informed. They promised to come themselves and send specialists to assess the situation.” However, the Kursk NPP is not the only target of such attacks. Earlier in August, a Ukrainian drone attack set one of the cooling towers at the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye NPP in the Zaporozhye Region on fire. This nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe and the IAEA already has observers there. The mission was deployed in the summer of 2023 amid regular attempts of Kyiv’s forces to attack and damage the plant. However, the posture of IAEA regarding the situation in Kursk will not likely be very different from that regarding the Zaporozhye NPP. To be clear, the IAEA tries to pretend that it does not know what side regularly shells and attacks nuclear facilities in an apparent attempt to cause a nuclear disaster. Furthermore, the Russian side recently reported Ukraine was preparing a “dirty bomb” for a false flag attack on either the Kursk or Zaporozhye nuclear power plants. Moscow said it was taking these reports seriously and warned that any such attack would be met immediately with “tough military and military-technical countermeasures.” The attack on the Kursk NPP came as Kyiv’s forces have been trying to develop their advance inside Russian territory in the region. It started on August 6 and involved thousands of Ukrainian troops supported by foreign mercenaries as well as hundreds of pieces of military equipment. The town of Kurchatov, where the nuclear power plant is located, was likely among the ambitious targets of this deadly push. Kyiv’s forces were not able to develop any notable success and reach it. However, they were successful in the carrying out multiple war crimes, including the killing and capturing of a large number of civilians and looting local villages. As of August 23, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been trying to keep control of a group of border villages that they captured in the first days of the attack. Kyiv continues to send reinforcements to the area despite the dire situation that its forces have been experiencing in the region of the Donbass. It is likely that the Ukrainian leadership still cherishes hopes of taking the Kursk NPP “hostage” or causing a tragedy at facility.