Russia plan to blow up Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been “drafted and approved,” Ukraine’s intelligence says. Ukrainian troops advance in the east, retake the village of Rivnopil. Lukashenka “extends his hand,” Prigozhin says in first statement issued after failed mutiny.
Russia plan to blow up Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been “drafted and approved,” Ukraine’s intelligence says
In an interview with Britain’s New Statesman magazine, Head of the Main Intelligence Department of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, warned that Russia had finished preparations for an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and planted explosives next to four of the six power units.
Budanov is confident that the Russia plan to blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been “drafted and approved.” “Technical means could be used to speed up the catastrophe,” he added.
According to Budanov, the cooling pond of the plant has been mined by Russian troops. Without cooling, the nuclear reactors could melt in a period of between ten hours and 14 days.
He believes Russia would be able to raise the voltage in the power supply lines to the plant, bringing about a nuclear accident at the lower end of that time frame.
“The situation has never been as severe as now,” Ukraine’s defense intelligence chief said.
Ukrainian military intelligence has also been able to establish that Russian troops have moved vehicles charged with explosives to four of the six power units. It is not clear if the International Atomic Energy Agency was granted access to these units during its visit on 15 June.
Whether the order will come depends on how Russia sees the potential benefits from a nuclear disaster in southern Ukraine. Budanov told the New Statesman there are two possibilities. The first would be to blow up the power plant if Russian forces get ousted from the left bank of the Dnipro river. Russia would then create a zone of destruction and exclusion as a way to prevent Ukraine from advancing.
The second possibility is that Russia would use a nuclear disaster as a “preventive measure”, in Budanov’s words. The goal in this case would be to stop Ukraine’s offensive before it starts and to freeze the line of contact as it exists.
Ukrainian troops advance in east, retake Rivnopil
Defense forces have brought Rivnopil in Donetsk region back under Ukrainian control, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Monday.
That’s the ninth settlement Ukraine’s Armed Forces have claimed to have liberated since the launch of the counteroffensive. Rivnopil sits on the line between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. The village was recaptured by the second mechanized battalion of the 31st separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Video posted by the brigade to Facebook showed Ukrainian soldiers inside Rivnopil. They said it was retaken on Sunday, June 25.
Lukashenka “extends his hand,” Prigozhin says in first statement issued after failed mutiny
In his first statement issued after his failed rebellion, the leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, spoke of a settlement negotiated with the Belarusian dictator, Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
“Lukashenko extended his hand and offered to find solutions for the further work of [Wagner] in a legal jurisdiction,” he said.
He said Lukashenka contacted him after the Wagner chief decided to “stop the march on Moscow” in order “not to spill Russian blood.”
Lukashenka’s office has been silent about whether Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus.
Responding to an inquiry by Russian media on June 26, the press service of the self-proclaimed Belarusian president said they were not aware if Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus. Journalists were asked to submit a written query.
The Belarusian monitoring group Belaruski Hajun said plane-tracking data suggested that both of Prigozhin’s jets were still in Russia. His BAe 125-800B (RA-02731) business jet did not leave Moscow since June 22. His primary jet, Embraer Legacy 600 (RA-02795) flew from St Petersburg to the south of Russia on June 25 and returned back that same evening.
Apparently, Prigozhin did not use his jets to fly to Belarus.
At the same time, Prigozhin was rumored to have been spotted in Minsk on Monday, according to various unconfirmed reports posted to Telegram.
Ukraine in Flames, latest episodes
Aftermath of Kakhovka HPP explosion for population and business. Ukraine in Flames #471
Defining Victory: What should it look like? – Part 2. Ukraine in Flames #472
