Western states are helping Kiev to target nuclear sites, the Russian Foreign Ministry said
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in St. Petersburg, June 23, 2023. © Maksim Bogodvid / Sputnik
Western countries are encouraging Ukraine to conduct attacks on Russia’s nuclear sites, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said following a drone crash in the city of Kurchatov, which is adjacent to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
“The countries that supply [drones] to Kiev – do they plan to resettle on Mars in case of a nuclear disaster?” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Friday.
“The people in NATO countries must understand that their governments are sponsoring nuclear terrorism carried out by Kiev.”
Zakharova’s statement came after a UAV exploded and crashed in Kurchatov early Friday morning, damaging a residential building. The city named after nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov was founded in the late 1960s to serve the nearby power plant. It is also a home to companies that manufacture parts for nuclear reactors.
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Russia’s border regions of Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod have frequently come under attack since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine. In early May, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had caught a group of Ukrainian agents that were planning acts of sabotage on nuclear power plants in the Leningrad and Tver Regions.
Moscow has also accused Ukrainian troops of shelling the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, which sits close to the front line. Kiev, in turn, claimed that Russian troops rigged the facility with explosives. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, announced this week that its inspectors found no signs of mines or explosives at the plant.
