Moscow said its forces are ‘mopping up’ besieged border region as Kyiv reports fresh territorial gains.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has visited a nuclear plant in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been waging a cross-border offensive.
Moscow says the Soviet-era nuclear plant has repeatedly been attacked by Ukrainian forces since the latter began a cross-border offensive on Aug. 6, seizing a portion of Russia’s western Kursk region.
“The safety and security of nuclear facilities must, under no circumstances, be endangered,” Grossi said on the eve of his Aug. 27 visit to Kursk. “The safety and security of all nuclear power plants is of central and fundamental concern to the IAEA.”
Fighting in the border region has been reported 25 miles from the nuclear plant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week accused Ukrainian forces deployed in the region of trying to attack the nuclear plant.
“The enemy attempted to carry out strikes at the nuclear power plant. The [IAEA] has been notified,” Putin said, according to the Russian state-owned TASS news agency.
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He did not provide documentary evidence for the assertion, which he made at a meeting of high-ranking Russian officials on Aug. 22.
Kyiv, meanwhile, has yet to respond to the accusation that its forces tried to attack the facility.
Russia invaded broad swathes of eastern and southeastern Ukraine in 2022.
Since then, the safety of nuclear plants located in or near conflict zones has prompted international concern.
Moscow and Kyiv have previously accused one another of attacking a nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia, one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia invaded—and annexed—two years ago.
Before his visit, Grossi had said that the only way to assess the security of Kursk’s nuclear plant—run by Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation—was to visit the facility.
Following his arrival in Kursk, Grossi appeared on Russian state television speaking to Russian officials at the nuclear plant.
In previous remarks, the IAEA chief had warned of potential catastrophe if nuclear plants near the conflict zone were targeted by either side of the conflict.
In 1986, the Soviet-run Chornobyl nuclear plant, located in northern Ukraine, was the scene of what is widely considered the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Sept. 2, 2022. International Atomic Energy Agency/Handout via Reuters
Both Sides Claim Gains
Russian military officials say Russian forces are now in the process of reversing Ukrainian territorial gains in Kursk.
On Aug. 27, Apty Alaudinov, a top Russian Defense Ministry official, said Russian forces had expelled Ukrainian troops from two settlements in the border region.
“This area has also been mopped up, with control established,” he said in a video message posted on the Telegram social media and messaging platform.
Alaudinov repeated Russian claims that Ukrainian forces in Kursk were sustaining huge losses.
In earlier statements, Kyiv said that its forces had established control over more than 450 square miles of territory—and dozens of settlements—in Kursk.
On Aug. 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces had pushed a further 2 miles into the region, establishing control over two more settlements.
Ukrainian officials previously said that the weeks-long offensive was mainly intended to bolster Kyiv’s position in advance of possible cease-fire talks.
They later said the offensive was meant to establish a “buffer zone” in the area to prevent Russian cross-border attacks on Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
Moscow said the offensive’s main aim was to capture—or disable—Kursk’s nuclear power plant, which provides electricity to 19 regions of Russia.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify claims made by either side.
Reuters contributed to this report.
