Surveillance camera footage shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following shelling, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Enerhodar, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine March 4, 2022, in this screengrab from a video obtained from social media. Zaporizhzhya NPP via YouTube via REUTERS
MOSCOW — Russia’s defense ministry on Friday blamed an attack at the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a monstrous provocation.
Ukraine has said Russian forces attacked the plant in the early hours of Friday, setting an adjacent five-storey training facility on fire, in an incident that provoked international condemnation of Moscow, a week into its invasion of Ukraine.
A Russian defense ministry spokesman said the nuclear plant was operating normally and the area had been under Russian control since Feb. 28.
“However, last night on the territory adjacent to the power plant, an attempt was made by the Kyiv nationalist regime to carry out a monstrous provocation,” spokesman Igor Konashenkov was quoted as saying.
He said that a Russian national guard patrol was attacked by a Ukrainian sabotage group on territory adjacent to the plant.
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