General Zaluzhnyi takes control of the security of nuclear plants

3 July, 2023 Rivne NPP. Photo from open sources The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala, have visited the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant.

There, they had an expert discussion on possible scenarios for the development of events at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant captured by the Russians. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports with reference to a video of the visit. The President of Energoatom Petro Kotin and director of the Rivne NPP Pavlo Kovtoniuk also joined the meeting with the high military command.

During the meeting, they agreed on the exchange of information between the military and the energy industry. This is a necessary step in order to analyze, plan and forecast possible scenarios of the development of events at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the General Staff explained.

"We have agreed on close cooperation for the timely implementation of measures to respond to certain situations," the statement reads. On July 1, Zelensky held an on-site meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief at the Rivne NPP, in which General Zaluzhnyi also participated. As previously reported, on June 25, the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that the Russian leadership had drafted and approved a plan to blow up the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Photo from open sources

Major General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, said that Russian troops had placed military equipment with explosives near 4 out of 6 power units of the ZNPP. According to him, nuclear reactors without cooling could melt within a period of 10 hours to 14 days. A voltage hike on power lines feeding the facility, which the Russians may also cause, can lead to an accident at the ZNPP as well.

Russian invasion forces captured Enerhodar and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in March 2022.

Since then, they have effectively turned the nuclear plant into their military base.