Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Ukraine of attempting to attack the Kursk nuclear power station, which is one of the three biggest nuclear power plants in Russia, and which has recently come under threat by the nearby incursion of Ukraine's armed forced into Kursk territory.
"The enemy tried to strike the nuclear power plant at night, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been informed," Putin said in a televised meeting of ministers, though without presenting any specific evidence. He said it happened in an overnight attack and that Moscow has briefed the UN nuclear safety watchdog on the situation.
According to Reuters, "Alexei Smirnov, acting governor of the Kursk region, told Putin at the same meeting that the situation at the Kursk nuclear power station was stable."
This hasn't been the first accusation by Russia of Ukraine's operation endangering the Kursk nuclear plant. On Saturday foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova first revealed the Kremlin's belief that a dangerous plot was in the works and the facility is under threat.
"According to the incoming information, the Kiev Regime has started the preparation of an attack on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant," Zakharova told a briefing.
"The purpose of this provocation is to accuse the Russian Federation of ‘self-attacking’ the plant to create grounds for strikes on Ukraine's nuclear energy facilities," the allegation continued.
The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) lies about 25 miles west of the city of Kursk, which is the administrative center of the oblast by the same name. The plant continues to be a major electricity producer for Russia. Kremlin officials fear that Ukraine may seek to use some major provocation to draw its backers in NATO deeper into the conflict.
"We call on the international organizations - in particular, the United Nations and the [International Atomic Energy Agency] IAEA - to immediately state their condemnation of the provocative actions begin prepared by the Kiev regime," Zakharova continued in her Saturday comments.
She said this is "to prevent a violation of nuclear and physical security of the Kursk NPP, which may result in a large-scale man-made disaster in Europe." Putin's fresh Thursday allegations follow all of this.
Also on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to border areas of Ukraine's Sumy region, just across from Kursk region where Ukrainian troops are still conducing their cross-border operations. "I visited the border area of the Sumy region and held a meeting with Commander-in-Chief (Oleksandr) Syrsky and the head of the Sumy regional military administration," Zelensky announced on social media.
He again hailed the fact that Ukraine had captured hundreds of Russian troops, which he said "replenished the exchange fund" - meaning that they can be traded in swaps to get Ukrainian troops back at a future date.
He said he further discussed with his commanders "steps taken to strengthen the defence toward Toretsk and Pokrovsk" in the Donbas, where by all accounts Kiev forces haven't been doing as well. In Kursk, there have been widespread reports that Ukraine's advance has been halted or at least slowed, but there remain conflicting accounts amid the fog of war.