Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Wednesday of plotting to sabotage the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine and the leader of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog called for greater access for inspections amid rising tensions over one of the war’s main flash points, even as analysts said the immediate risk of serious harm to the facility appeared low.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, citing the country’s intelligence service, said that Russian troops who seized the plant in March of last year had placed objects that look like explosives on the roof of several of its power units, possibly with the intent of simulating an attack and blaming it on Ukraine.
In an apparent response to Mr. Zelensky’s concerns, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said on Wednesday that its inspectors at the site had not seen any indications of mines or explosions, but that the agency had requested additional access to parts of the plant to confirm that finding.
“With military tension and activities increasing in the region where this major nuclear power plant is located, our experts must be able to verify the facts on the ground,” the agency’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said in a statement.
Ukrainian officials have been increasingly ratcheting up warnings of nuclear sabotage.
“The only source of danger to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is Russia and no one else,” Mr. Zelensky said in a nightly speech, adding that he had spoken by telephone with President Emmanuel Macron of France about his concerns. Hanna Malyar, a Ukrainian deputy defense minister, accused Russia on Wednesday of “escalating the situation” at the plant.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said that Ukraine planned to sabotage the plant and that Russia had taken measures to counteract the threat. He described the situation as “quite tense.” He cited no evidence for the claim and provided no details.
The nuclear plant, the largest in Europe and the first to be occupied by foreign troops, has been the focus of global concern since early in the war. Mr. Grossi has repeatedly issued warnings of the chances of disaster, including one last month over an “extremely fragile” security situation, amid shelling around the plant and other security issues.
Ukrainian authorities conducted drills last week to test their emergency response, though some residents in the city of Nikopol, just a few miles from the plant, said they had no plans to leave, in part because they have nowhere else to go.
Biden administration officials have said that they did not believe a threat was imminent but that they were watching “very, very closely.”
The Ukrainian and Russian warnings have intensified in recent weeks after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam downstream of the plant last month.
Moscow blamed Ukraine for the blast at the dam, but a New York Times analysis found that evidence suggested that Russia had blown up the dam itself. The dam’s destruction killed dozens, partly drained the reservoir next to the power plant and flooded the Dnipro River basin.
“Unfortunately, there was no timely and large-scale response to the terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and this may incite the Kremlin to commit new evil,” Mr. Zelensky said.
Russia, which has illegally annexed the Zaporizhzhia region, has tried to impose management control on the plant, which it now considers state property, using its state nuclear company.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, noted the heightened rhetoric at the plant, which it said could be part of preparations for a Russian false flag attack of some kind, but also added that “provocative Russian statements” were likely part of an “information operation meant to accuse Ukraine of irresponsibility” at the plant and distract Ukrainian forces from the counteroffensive.
“Russia remains unlikely to generate a radiological incident at the ZNPP at this time,” it said in a report, adding that the plant’s “reactors were constructed to withstand considerable damage.”
Anatoly Kurmanaev contributed reporting.
