Ukraine’s intelligence chief says threat of ZNPP incident is "slowly receding"

NV reported the information, citing Budanov's interview with The Times.

He did not provide a detailed explanation for his conclusion. He simply mentioned that certain public and non-public actions in this field led him to reach it.

"And I think that now the danger of an artificial man-made disaster is slowly receding," Budanov said.

The situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Russians occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP in late February 2022. Since then, there has been a constant presence of personnel and military equipment, which the invaders store in machine rooms and occasionally deploy to positions for shelling the territories of the Nikopol district in the Dnipropetrovsk region, located on the other side of the Kakhovka Reservoir.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has a monitoring mission at the station, which is supposed to ensure that the nuclear power plant is not used as a military base, that it is not attacked, and that no fire is initiated from the NPP. Power outages at the nuclear power plant occur regularly though. Occupiers began importing explosives to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant last year.

It became known in May 2023 that the Russians had placed explosives in the turbine room of the  ZNPP’s fourth power unit. Additionally, the invaders have nearly completely destroyed the emergency readiness and response system at the nuclear power plant.

On June 22, the Director-General of the IAEA, after visiting ZNPP Grossi, stated that the situation at the plant is extremely unstable. On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that intelligence had received information that Russia was considering a scenario for a terrorist act at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which would cause a radiation release. 

The Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that Russia has completed preparations for a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Large-scale exercises were held in 4 regions of Ukraine in the event of a terrorist attack on the ZNPP.

On June 30, the Main Intelligence Directorate reported that the occupying Russian forces were gradually leaving the ZNPP, and that Ukrainian employees who had signed a contract with Rosatom also received evacuation recommendations. In addition, the plant's staff received an order to blame Ukraine in any emergency situation.

In his turn, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counteroffensive and the process of Ukraine regaining control over the plant would continue even despite Russian nuclear blackmail.

On July 2, the mayor of the temporarily occupied Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, said that some Rosatom employees and collaborators who had signed a contract with the company had left the plant.

At night, on July 4, Zaporizhzhia NPP lost power from the main power line, and the plant was connected to the only available backup line.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and warned him that Russia was preparing provocations at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

Planet Labs satellite imagery taken on the morning of July 5 recorded unknown objects on the roof of the 4th power unit of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.