Ukraine storing weapons at nuclear plants, says Russia

Russian intelligence feels Kiev believes that Moscow will not strike nuclear plants, considering the dangers of a nuclear catastrophe

NEW DELHI | Updated: 23 January, 2023 9:12 pm IST
Rovno Nuclear Power Plant

The director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed on January 23 that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are storing arms and ammunition, they received from the West, in nuclear power plants.

The director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said that his agency was getting reliable reports that the Ukrainian armed forces have been using nuclear power stations to store arms and ammunition supplied by the West.

“This includes the most expensive and rare systems the Ukraine Armed Forces are receiving for the HIMARS MRLs and foreign air defence systems, as well as large-calibre artillery shells,” Naryshkin said.

Several train cars carrying the deadly cargo from abroad transited through Rafalovka station to the Rovno NPP in the last week of December 2022 alone, the SVR claimed.

The agency also stated that Ukraine intends to “shell the cities of Donbas and other border regions of Russia from behind the backs of innocent Ukrainian civilians” while the Ukrainian Armed Forces “hide ammunition … behind nuclear reactors.”

“The plan of the Kiev regime is clear. The Ukrainian Armed Forces command hides the ammunition in the rear, using nuclear reactors as their shields, just like when the Banderites shell cities in Donbass and other borderline Russian regions from behind the backs of innocent Ukrainian civilians,” SVR said.

“The idea is that the Russian Armed Forces would not target NPPs with their strikes, fearing a nuclear disaster. If the warehouses detonate or a nuclear power station is destroyed by yet another Ukrainian air defence missile after it veers off course, they can always blame Moscow for the tragedy,” the agency added.

“Kiev is confident that this would be the case, considering the tacit approval by the West of the Ukrainian artillery strikes against the Zaporozhye NPP,” SVR said.

Terming Ukraine’s tactics as a “method often used by international terrorists,” SVR said, “Only the hostages of the Kiev regime now are not individual civilians, but tens and even hundreds of thousands of residents of their own country and neighbouring states.”

“I would like to hope that no one in Kyiv will think of deliberately blowing up such warehouses in the hope of begging the US and its allies for even more weapons and ammunition,” Naryshkin added.

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