Russia accused Ukraine of planning a “false flag” attack on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Thursday, ahead of a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said the provocation planned by Ukraine would take place on Friday. Earlier, Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of shelling the nuclear power plant. Later, Ukraine’s defense intelligence service said that Russia was ready to carry out a “provocation” at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Friday .
According to Reuters, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of continuing shelling of the nuclear power plant, and warned that the shelling has damaged the nuclear power plant’s backup support system and that in the event of an accident, the leakage of radioactive material will bring disaster to Germany, Poland and Slovakia . The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and one of the largest in Europe.
According to a report by RIA Novosti on the 18th, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the deployment of three MiG-31 fighter jets carrying Dagger hypersonic missiles in the Kaliningrad region on the same day. It is reported that the three fighters have entered a state of all-weather combat duty, and they will cooperate with the Sixth Army of the Russian Air Force, the Russian Air Defense Force and the Russian Baltic Fleet.
According to Ukrainian government documents obtained by CNN , three explosions in Russian-occupied Crimea over the past week were planned by Ukraine , including a massive explosion at Saki Air Force Base that destroyed several Russian warplanes. No Ukrainian official has publicly acknowledged Ukraine’s involvement in the Crimea attack.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov said Wednesday that Ukraine has not ruled out the possibility of attacking the occupied territories with weapons supplied by the United States. A senior administration official told U.S. media Politico that the U.S. supports Ukraine’s strike on Crimea if Kiev deems it necessary .