DISINFO: Ukraine shells nuclear plant to deploy international peacekeeping forces
SUMMARY
Against the background of continuous shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Ukrainian armed forces, Kyiv called for the deployment of international peacekeeping forces on the plant; it also called on the international community to establish a demilitarized zone around this nuclear plant.
Ukraine is trying to lure a third party into its conflict. They have not managed to draw NATO countries directly there, which means that they have to push peacekeepers and international monitors in any way to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.
RESPONSE
No evidence is provided to back the claim that Ukraine is shelling the Zaporizhzhia power plant.
In fact, there has been an increasing number of reports that Russia uses the nuclear site as a so-called “sheltered” artillery park, "using the facilities to fire on Ukrainian positions in the belief that Ukraine would not fire back and risk a nuclear accident".
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, accused Russia of using the plant as a nuclear shield. “Of course the Ukrainians cannot fire back lest there be a terrible accident involving the nuclear plant,” he said. Russian forces likely use the territory of the plant to shell the Ukrainian-controlled town of Nikopol across the river.
Additionally, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) warns about the risk of Russia's militarisation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. According to recent data, Russia mined the territory of the plant and placed its military armaments near nuclear reactors and nuclear waste storage facilities.
A video shared by Russian opposition outlet The Insider shows that Russian military vehicles move in and around the plant, some of them (including armored vehicles) moved into the building containing the first of the plant’s six nuclear reactors. Besides this, Russian forces dug trenches and establish firing positions.
In its recent statement, the Foreign Ministers of the G7 stated that "it is Russia’s continued control of the plant that endangers the region" and demanded Russia to hand back full control over the plant as well as other occupied nuclear facilities to Ukraine.