Russia says may hit Ukrainian, Eastern European nuclear plants if its own plant attacked with NATO missiles
The deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council says if an alleged Ukrainian attack on a western Russian nuclear plant is confirmed, Moscow could retaliate with strikes on Ukrainian and Eastern European nuclear plants.
Dmitry Medvedev made the remarks on Sunday after some reports pointed to an attempted attack by Ukrainian armed forces against the Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant, which is located three kilometers from the city of Desnogorsk in the Smolensk Region and some 150 kilometers from the city of Smolensk.
"If an attempt to attack the Smolensk NPP (nuclear power plant) with NATO missiles is confirmed, we should consider a scenario of a simultaneous Russian strike on the South Ukrainian NPP, Rivne NPP and Khmelnytsky NPP, as well as on nuclear facilities in Eastern Europe. There is nothing to be ashamed of here," he said on the Telegram messaging app.
His remarks came after reports emerged across several Telegram channels earlier in the day, alleging that Ukrainian forces had tried to launch a missile strike on the Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant.
One of the reports surfaced on the Telegram channel Mash, alleging that the nuclear power plant had been attacked using British-made Storm Shadow missiles, as evidenced by the wreckage.
"Both missiles were shot down by Russian air defense in the skies over the village of Bytosh, [in] Bryansk region, Russia, at around 14:00. The first one fell into a field, [and] the second – on the premises of a sawmill," Mash claimed.
Meanwhile, the governor of the Rostov Oblast of the Russian Federation, Vasily Golubev, said the oblast's air defense system had been activated. He added that a missile had been shot down near Kamianske and its shrapnels had damaged the roofs of several buildings.
Aleksandr Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk Oblast, for his part, said two Ukrainian missiles were shot down in the oblast.
This is not the first time during Russia's February 2022-present military campaign in Ukraine that Moscow accuses Kiev of trying to target nuclear facilities that are located in the war zone.
Last month, Russia said Ukraine had waged an unsuccessful attack against Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which is under Moscow's control.
Russia Today cited local authorities at the time as saying that Ukraine had launched three drones against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on June 9.
The Soviet-era facility has been in Russia's hands since last March; just a month after Moscow's war against Kiev started.
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