Defence Ministry on provocation at Zaporizhzhia plant: they wanted to blame Russia for creating radioactive hotspot

The Russian Ministry of Defence has reported on the Kyiv regime’s attempted provocation on the adjacent territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant last night.

A Ukrainian raiding party attacked a roving service of the Russian National Guard on patrol on the protected territory at about 2 a.m. — a hail of bullets was fired from windows of several floors next to a training complex. Then the Ukrainian raiding party set the building on fire.

Official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defence General Mayor Igor Konashenkov has claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statements following the events at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant say that an attempt to blame Russia for creating a radioactive hotspot was the goal of the provocation in the nuclear facility.

“All this indicates criminal intent of the Kyiv regime or Zelensky’s total loss of control over the actions of Ukrainian raiding parties and foreign contractors,” he claimed.

On 25 February, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that that the Russian Airborne Forces seized the control of the territory near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. There was reached agreement with militaries of the Ukrainian battalion of the nuclear plant’s security service to provide the safety of reactor units and the sarcophagus. The radioactivity level is normal, noted the Defence Ministry. The nuclear power plant staff continues servicing the facilities as usual and is tracking radioactivity.

Realnoe Vremya is following the events. Read all the latest news on the events occurring in Ukraine in a report of the online newspaper.