Ukraine refutes latest Russian claims of attack on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Ukraine's defence forces have called Russia's latest claims of a new strike on the transport workshop at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) a lie.

Source: Defence Forces of Ukraine's South; Kremlin-aligned Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS

Quote from Ukraine's defence forces: "For yet another lie about an alleged strike on the ZNPP by Ukraine's defence forces, the Russian occupiers don't spare vehicles.

Russian propaganda continues to spread yet more groundless accusations against Ukraine's defenders regarding alleged strikes on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. This time, the occupiers accuse Ukrainian forces of striking the ZNPP's transport workshop, claiming that several buses and Gazelle vehicles were burnt out as a result.

We emphasise that Ukraine's defence forces do not strike nuclear energy facilities and do not create threats to nuclear safety. Ukraine, as a responsible state, strictly adheres to the norms of international humanitarian law and the principles of nuclear safety."

Details: The defence forces stressed that such statements by the Russian side are part of a systematic information campaign aimed at discrediting Ukraine and shifting responsibility for risks at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, temporarily occupied by Russia.

On the afternoon of 31 May, Russian propaganda outlet RIA Novosti claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had attacked the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

"The transport workshop has been damaged: six buses and two Gazelles have been destroyed; there are no casualties among personnel, the station reported," the outlet's message reads.

TASS, meanwhile, citing Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna, reported that IAEA experts "are inspecting the site of a Ukrainian UAV strike on ZNPP territory" that Russian propaganda had claimed on 30 May. Ulyanov also published photographs.

Background:

• On 30 May, the defence forces refuted Russian claims of an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on power unit No. 6 of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
• The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate stressed that no changes to the radiation situation in the area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant had been observed and that IAEA experts were to verify information spread by Russian representatives about an alleged drone strike on the turbine hall building of Unit No. 6.
• Ukraine's Foreign Ministry noted that Russian claims of an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on the occupied ZNPP emerged on the eve of an IAEA Board of Governors meeting and called on Board members not to support granting Russia a seat on it.

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