Ukraine spy chief says nuclear threat at Zaporizhzhia plant subsiding

KYIV – Ukraine’s military spy chief said on Thursday that the threat of a Russian attack on the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was receding, but that it could easily return as long as the facility remained under occupation by Moscow’s forces.

The intelligence chief, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, made the comment in an interview with Reuters after days of warnings by Ukrainian and Russian officials accusing each other of plotting an attack at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.

“The threat is decreasing”, said Maj-Gen Budanov, who is the head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence, declining to say how he was able to say.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has for days warned of the grave threat at the facility, most recently saying Russian forces had mined the roof of several reactors.

Maj-Gen Budanov did not give details of what had been done to reduce the threat, or what it consisted of.

He made clear he believed the threat had only been postponed until later.

“Sorry, I can’t tell you what happened recently, but the fact is that the threat is decreasing”, he said.

“This means that at least we have all together with joint efforts somehow postponed a technogenic catastrophe.

“It’s not eliminated. As long as the station is occupied, this can happen again any time, if they want.”