Ukraine's president has warned that security services will target any Russian soldiers who s...
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Ukraine's president has warned that security services will target any Russian soldiers who shoot at the besieged Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
In his nightly address on Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky said any soldier firing on or from the plant would become "a special target" for Ukraine.
He also accused Moscow of turning the plant into a Russian army base and using it as "nuclear blackmail". Russia seized the facility after heavy fighting in March.
It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and is situated in a strategically important location in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol.Ukrainian technicians still operate it, despite the site being under Russian occupation. Earlier this week, the facility came under artillery fire, which Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for.
During his address from Kyiv, Mr Zelensky said that Russia had engaged in "constant provocations" by firing on the plant and said forces stationed there had used it as a base to shell Nikopol and the nearby city of Margarets.
"Every Russian military officer who shoots at the plant or shoots under cover of the plant must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence, our special services, our army," the president said.
He added that "every day" of Russia's plant occupation "increases the radiation threat to Europe".Ukraine's defence intelligence agency also accused Russia of a provocation by parking a Pion self-propelled howitzer - a type of tank - outside a nearby town and painting a Ukrainian flag on it in an attempt to discredit Kyiv.
On Thursday, foreign ministers from the G7 industrial democracies demanded that Russia withdraw from the site immediately. Their warning echoed statements from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which called for an end to "all military activities that endanger nuclear security".
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the situation at the plant could "lead to disaster".But Russia has constantly denied any wrongdoing at the plant, and Vladimir Rogov, a Moscow-installed local official, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were shelling the plant.
Moscow's foreign ministry has said it seized control of the plant to prevent leaks of radioactive materials during fighting in the region.
The ministry's officials at the UN have requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation at the power plant. The meeting will be held on Thursday in New York. - BBC
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