Putin launches major accusation at Ukraine amid concerns over Russian nuclear power plant
Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Ukraine of trying to attack the Kursk nuclear power station, some 30 miles from where Kyiv's forces are mounting a major cross-border offensive.
"The enemy tried to strike the nuclear power plant at night. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been informed," Putin said during a televised government meeting on Thursday.
Putin did not present any evidence for his claims or provide further details on the alleged attack.
The IAEA released a statement saying it had been told by Moscow that drone fragments were found very close to the Kursk plant's spent fuel nuclear storage facility.
The nuclear watchdog said its chief would visit the facility next week, with Russia having repeatedly sounded the alarm over a possible hit since Ukrainian troops and tanks stormed into its western Kursk region on August 6.
That offensive is now into its third week, with Kyiv laying claim to dozens of Russian border settlements and Russia scrambling to fight off the most serious attack by a foreign army on its territory since World War II.
There were no previous reports of the attempted strike on the facility in Russian media.
Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov told Putin the facility was working as usual. He said on Thursday that 133,000 people have fled or been evacuated from border districts since Ukraine launched the attack.
Concrete air-raid shelters were being installed in cities across the region on Thursday, including Kurchatov, next to the Kursk nuclear power plant.
Ukraine war causes nuclear concern
Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations of threatening nuclear safety throughout the two-and-a-half-year conflict.
Russian troops seized the abandoned Chernobyl power plant in northern Ukraine and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe's largest – in the first days of its full-scale military offensive.
It still controls the Zaporizhzhia plant, and has been accused of "nuclear blackmail" by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Moscow, in turn, claims Ukrainian forces have tried to strike the plant with drones on multiple occasions.
Earlier this month, a fire broke out in one of the Zaporizhzhia plant's cooling towers.
Russia said it was the result of a Ukrainian attack, while Kyiv said Russia had purposefully started the blaze.
After Ukraine launched its armed incursion into the Kursk region, the IAEA urged both Russia and Ukraine to exercise "maximum restraint" to "avoid a nuclear accident with the potential for serious radiological consequences."
Cover photo: IMAGO / SNA