Russian occupants complete preparations for terrorist attack at Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant - Budanov

The Russians have already approved a plan to blow up the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Energodar. All that is missing is an order. Kiryl Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian state intelligence service, said this in an interview with the British newspaper New Statesman.

He noted that so far the Russians have mined the cooling pool and four power units of the plant, and it is impossible to rule out that the Russian troops will carry out an explosion.

Budanov also noted that Russia could provoke an accident at the ZNPP. He explained that nuclear reactors without cooling could melt down in a period of ten hours to 14 days. The Ukrainian intelligence chief believes that the Russian military will try to increase the voltage in the power lines to the plant, leading to a nuclear accident in the lower part of that time period.

The plan for a terrorist attack on the ZNPP is fully developed and approved. They may use technical means to accelerate the crash," Budanov stressed.

The intelligence chief did not rule out that the day and time of the detonation might be connected with the failures of the Russian army at the front. He noted that the Russians will try to blow up the ZNPP when the defenders of Ukraine start advancing on the Left Bank.

Russia sees the creation of the nuclear disaster zone as a way to prevent the further advance of the Ukrainian Security and Defence Forces," Budanov pointed out.

At the same time, he did not rule out that the Russians might use an explosion at the nuclear plant as a preventive method to prevent the advance of the AFU.

The situation has never been as serious as it is now," Budanov stressed.