Russians could blow up nuclear plant to halt Ukraine’s forces, Zelensky warns
- With Russia’s war on Ukraine going poorly, Zelensky says Ukraine is prepared for a possible disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
- Russia’s foreign ministry accused Kyiv of ‘systematic infliction of damage’ to the plant and warned of the possible fallout from a catastrophe there
Speaking via a translator in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”, Zelensky said: “Can we, while analysing this, think that Russia is planning a local explosion in order to stop Ukrainian operations on the battlefield? Yes.”
He said of the Russians: “If they are going to lose more initiative than they have lost at the moment, they will make some additional steps in order to make the entire world be afraid of the global nuclear disaster and halt all military actions on the battlefield.”
Russia’s foreign ministry on Sunday accused Kyiv of “systematic infliction of damage” to the Zaporizhzhia plant and warned of the possible fallout from a catastrophe there. In the ABC interview, Zelensky said Ukraine is prepared for a possible disaster there.
“As of today, he has become a political figure,” he said of Prigozhin. “And this, to me, must have been his primary objective.”
He also said that he was not worried about Prigozhin possibly resuming command of the Wagner Group or bringing some fighters back into the war, given that those soldiers have been unable to defeat Ukraine’s forces so far.
