The possible threat from Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant for Latvia is insignificant, as it is located more than 1 000 km away from Latvia’s border and none of the power plant’s reactors are currently in use, as Latvian State Environment Service (VVD) Radiation Security Centre wrote on Twitter.
This announcement came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky informed his French colleague Emmanuel Macron over the phone about alleged dangerous provocations that Moscow is planning at the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP.
VVD Radiation Security Centre stresses that it performs constant monitoring of the radiation levels in Latvia. The centre says residents have no reasons to be concerned.
Director of NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence Jānis Sārts wrote on Twitter that public rhetoric about the security of Zaporizhizha NPP is becoming intense.
“We hope everything will stay within the information space, but we still have to follow the development of events,” he stressed, adding that direct threats for Latvia are small.
In a recent video address Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russia has set up “objects not unlike explosives” at Zaporizhzhia NPP.
“Possibly to imitate an attack on the power plant. Perhaps they have some other scenario in mind. But in any case – the world sees it,” said the Ukrainian president.
“Radiation is a threat to all people in the world,” he stressed.
Previously Ukrainian forces warned about possible provocations at the power plant in the near future.
According to Ukraine, items that look not unlike explosives have been put on the roof of the third and fourth reactor.
“Their detonation shouldn’t damage the reactors, but they may create the impression of an attack from Ukraine’s side,” the statement mentions, warning that Russia will spread disinformation about all that.
Rosatom director general’s advisor Renat Karcha previously said that Ukrainian forces may attempt to attack Zaporizhzhia NPP using precision weaponry and strike drones. He also claimed Ukrainian forces may attack the power plant using Tochka-U missile loaded with radioactive waste.
Also read: Dove and Magnum producer makes excuses for staying in the Russian market