Putin Accuses Ukraine of Attempting to Strike the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Thursday of attempting to strike the nuclear power plant in the city of Kursk, which the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to visit soon, as Ukrainian forces have launched a widespread attack on the region for over two weeks.

Ukraine began a major offensive in this Russian border area on August 6, seizing dozens of towns and hundreds of square kilometers. The Kursk nuclear power plant is located about fifty kilometers from Ukrainian positions.

During a meeting with members of his government and governors of the regions bordering Ukraine, broadcast on television, Putin stated: “The enemy tried to strike the nuclear power plant during the night.”

Putin did not provide specific details or direct evidence on this matter, but he confirmed that the International Atomic Energy Agency “was informed” of this attack and “promised to send specialists to assess the situation.”

The agency released a statement saying that Moscow reported finding drone fragments about 100 meters from the nuclear fuel storage facility at the Kursk plant.

A spokesperson for the agency had informed AFP earlier on Thursday that the Director-General Rafael Grossi will visit the Russian nuclear plant “next week.”

Moscow has been warning for days of the “danger” of a nuclear disaster if the Ukrainian army attacks the plant.

The International Agency called for “utmost restraint” in the vicinity of the site “to avoid a nuclear incident that could have serious radiological consequences.”

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in early 2022, the agency has regularly warned of the risk of a disaster, particularly at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which was occupied by the Russian army in March 2022 and has been subject to repeated shelling, with Kyiv and Moscow exchanging accusations regarding it.

The management of the Kursk plant confirmed in October 2023 that it had been targeted by three Ukrainian drones but reported that there were no injuries or damage.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he visited the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, near the border with Kursk, where he met with Ukrainian Army Commander Oleksandr Syrsky.

He confirmed that his forces had taken control of another town, bringing the total number of towns under Kyiv’s control to 94, and mentioned that they had “increased their exchange fund,” indicating that they had captured more Russian soldiers for future exchanges.

The Russian army announced that it continues to inflict heavy losses on Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region and is thwarting their attempts to advance deeper into the territory.

Since the start of the Ukrainian offensive, more than 130,000 people have fled the fighting and shelling, according to authorities in the Kursk region. Russian news agency TASS reported that at least 31 civilians have been killed and 143 others injured.

As an indicator of the severity of the field situation, Russian authorities announced on Thursday that classes in over a hundred schools would be held online at the start of the academic year.

In the neighboring Bryansk region, Governor Alexander Bogomaz confirmed that the situation is “under control” following an infiltration attempt by a group of Ukrainian “saboteurs” the day before and drone attacks.

On the Ukrainian side, a security source told AFP that Ukrainian forces targeted a Russian airbase in Marinovka in the Volgograd region, over 300 kilometers from the border. They targeted “warehouses for storing guided bombs and fuel.”

Additionally, a commercial ferry transporting tanks loaded with fuel sank on Thursday in a Russian port opposite the annexed Crimean Peninsula after being hit in a Ukrainian airstrike, according to authorities.

Local authorities in Krasnodar region in southwestern Russia stated, “As a result of the damage it sustained, the ferry sank in the waters of the Caucasus port. There is no fire at the port.” Authorities held the “Kyiv regime” responsible for the attack.

For his part, Volgograd region Governor Andrei Bocharov stated that a downed drone caused a fire “at a facility belonging to the Ministry of Defense,” without providing details.

In Donbas, eastern Ukraine, where most of the fighting is concentrated, the Russian army announced that it had seized the town of Miheve near Pokrovsk.

Russian soldiers are now about ten kilometers away from Pokrovsk, a town with a population of 53,000, and have been asked to leave.

The pressure of the Russian advance in this sector of the front has not lessened, contrary to what Ukrainian authorities had hoped when they launched their offensive in the Kursk area. Ukraine also stated that it wants to establish a “buffer zone” in Russia and force Moscow into fair peace negotiations.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities announced an investigation against a journalist from CNN and two Ukrainian correspondents for allegedly crossing the border “illegally” from Ukraine.

Last week, similar actions were taken against Italian journalists working for the public broadcaster RAI.