Russians Approve Terrorist Attack Plan on NPP, Explosives Found Near Four Power Units, Ukraine’s Intel Chief Says

The head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), General Kyrylo Budanov, warned again that Russia has plans prepared for a terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia NNP (ZNPP) in an interview with The New Statesman on June 25. According to him, Russian forces have placed equipment with explosives  near four of the six power units.

“The plan for a terrorist attack on the ZNPP is fully drafted and approved. They can use technical means to accelerate the catastrophe,” Budanov said.

“The situation has never been as serious as it is now,” he stressed.

According to him, the order to commit a terrorist attack on the ZNPP could be triggered by the defeat of the Russian occupation forces on the left bank of the Dnipro River. He says that Russia may see their creation of a nuclear disaster zone as a way of halting Ukraine’s forces and preventing attacks on Russian positions.

There is also a risk that Moscow may attack the ZNPP with a radiation leak as a “preventive measure” to stop a major push in Ukraine’s summer offensive before it begins, thereby freezing the front line in its current location.

On June 25, following Budanov’s statements,  President Volodymyr Zelensky held a series of international conversations with US president Joe Biden, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, and Polish president Andrzej Duda.

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Ukrainian lawmakers were advised to limit their presence in the area and were urged to ensure the safety of their families.

Zelensky said that he had informed his partners that the occupiers had mined the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

“I told them [international partners] about the information we have, our intelligence, about the Russian scenario with the mining of Zaporizhzhia NPP, which has been approved for terrorists,” the president said.

The president noted that the world must take steps to prevent a nuclear disaster.

“Just as the [world’s] reaction to the Russian explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the deliberate attempt of Russian terrorists to hit the dam of another reservoir in Kryvyi Rih was insufficient.

“We must take very concrete steps together in the world to prevent any radiation incidents,” Zelensky said.