Russia warns Ukraine of preparing to attack Kursk Nuclear Power Plant

On August 17, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Kiev government has begun preparing to provoke Russian nuclear facilities and the international community must recognize the danger this government poses.

Ms. Zakharova pointed out that "according to upcoming information, the Kiev authorities have begun preparing to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant".

"We call on international organizations - in particular the United Nations and the IAEA - to immediately condemn the provocations that the Kiev authorities have begun to prepare and prevent a violation of nuclear and physical security of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, which could lead to a large-scale man-made disaster in Europe," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

According to Ms. Zakharova, Kiev also "undermines the IAEA's nuclear safety and physical safety principles, set out by Director General Rafael Grossi in 2022".

On the same day, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said the safety situation at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is deteriorating after a drone attack on the road surrounding the area.

According to the state news agency TASS, the Russian plant's management said a Ukrainian drone dropped a bomb on an outside road, endangering their employees traveling on the highway.

In a related development, on August 17, Russian media reported that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal investigation into two Italian journalists who visited the troubled Kursk region, accusing them of illegally crossing the border.

Russia's RIA news agency quoted the FSB as saying that it had initiated proceedings against "two foreign journalists Simone Traini and Stefania Battistini, who illegally crossed the border into the Russian Federation and carried out video recordings on the territory of the Sudzha settlement in the Kursk region."