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27 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The United Kingdom Intelligence services have affirmed this Thursday that the Russian forces “have established combat positions” on the roofs of several reactors of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, located in southern Ukraine and which they have controlled since March 2022, for what they have pointed out that these facilities would be “integrated” in “tactical defense planning”.
“Satellite images show that, in March 2023, Russian forces established fighting positions protected with sandbags on the roofs of several of the six reactor buildings at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” they said, before holding which “is the first indication that the reactor buildings are being integrated into tactical defense planning.”
Thus, they have stressed that “it is likely that Russia has built these positions because it is increasingly concerned about the possibility of a major Ukrainian offensive.” “The move probably raises the possibility that the security systems of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant will be damaged in the event of fighting in the surrounding area,” they warned.
However, they have stressed that “direct and catastrophic damage to the reactors is unlikely in the most plausible scenarios involving infantry weapons, as the structures are very heavily reinforced,” the British Ministry of Defense has told through a series of messages on his official account on the social network Twitter.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly called for the establishment of a security zone around the plant to avoid possible risks arising from the fighting. Ukraine’s President Volodimir Zelensky considers that Russia is using its control of these facilities as “blackmail”.
The Zaporizhia plant is the largest in Europe and has six reactors commissioned between 1984 and 1995. It has been controlled by Russian forces since March last year, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, and has been the scene of constant offensive and coveted piece by both Kiev and Moscow.
