Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told the United Nations that Russia is planning a deep attack on his country’s nuclear facilities, warning of a possible “nuclear disaster”.
He said he had received intelligence that showed Moscow was using satellites provided by other countries to gather information on Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure.
“Radiation does not respect national borders and many countries can feel the damage,” the UN General Assembly warned on Wednesday.
Russia has repeatedly targeted power centers across Ukraine since its full-scale offensive began in February 2022.
“Any critical incident in the power system can lead to a nuclear disaster – a day like that must never come,” Zelensky said.
“Moscow must understand this, and this depends in part on your willingness to put pressure on the attacker.
“These are nuclear power plants. They must be safe.”
The UN nuclear watchdog last month warned that security at the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Russian-controlled Ukraine was deteriorating.
A strike followed near the border of the area, close to important irrigation ponds and 100m from the only remaining high voltage power line.
The plant was seized by the Russian army at the beginning of the war and has been attacked several times, which both sides have blamed on the other.
Zelensky said in a speech on Wednesday that Russia had destroyed all of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a large part of its hydropower capacity as a way to “torture” Ukrainians ahead of winter.
Power must stop being used as a weapon,” he said.
A large power plant near Kyiv was completely destroyed by Russian strikes in April, too millions of Ukrainians have experienced power outages this year alone.
While in the United States, Zelensky says he plans to meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
A top official in Donald Trump’s campaign has said the Republican nominee will not meet with the Ukrainian leader – despite statements by officials in Kyiv last week that Zelensky plans to meet the former president.
Trump described Zelensky as “the greatest salesman on Earth” following his speech and said the US would be “stuck in that war” unless he was elected in November.
In his UN speech, Zelensky criticized China and Brazil for pushing talks with Russia, questioning their motives.
He made a fresh appeal for countries to support his proposals for a comprehensive and just peace, emphasizing his position that Russian troops need to withdraw from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders to end the war.
Ukraine will not accept a return to the “brutal, colonial past”, he added.
Source link
