What you should know about Fuhrer's plans to unleash nuclear armageddon in Ukraine

Putin may well order the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to be blown up to shore up his shaky position, the Times writes in an editorial.

As an authoritarian leader, it is important for Putin to save face with his supporters. The recent coup attempt pushes Putin to take radical steps: The Kremlin may be tempted to escalate the war in the hope of a quick victory.

“The gradual withdrawal of Russian troops and the station's personnel from the region also supports these suspicions.”

NATO countries should strongly warn Moscow that they will respond strongly to a sabotage of the nuclear power plant with potentially catastrophic consequences. It should be added here that the warnings to the Kremlin were voiced only informally, while officials never made the necessary statements.

Zelenskyy also does not rule out the possibility that Russian invaders could actually blow up the plant.

“This could happen if the Ukrainian Armed Forces gain control of the plant. The goal is to stop the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Defense Forces and put political pressure on Kyiv through partners.”

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Four regions will be hit hardest: Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv. Active hostilities are taking place in three of them.

"According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the ZNPP. Ukrainian employees who signed a contract with Rosatom also were recommended to evacuate. According to the instructions received, they have to leave by July 5," the Main Directorate of Intelligence reports.

On July 1, the American aircraft WC-135 Constant Phoenix was spotted in European airspace. It is designed to monitor nuclear releases into the air.

Sources say that the US State Department does not recommend that its delegations visit Ukraine in the near future.

“So what is really going on? The traditional intelligence community believes that Russia is unlikely to cause a deliberate accident at the ZNPP. However, we should not rule out Russia's possible plans to sabotage the plant. The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) speaks of the Ruscists' three possible scenarios.”

1. The occupying forces may drain irradiated water from the ZNPP into the Kakhovka Reservoir to prevent the Ukrainian Armed Forces from crossing it.
2. The Russian occupiers will try to create a radiological plume to cover a larger area of southern Ukraine.
3. The Ruscists will cause a man-made "accident" with a smaller radiation radius to hinder the Ukrainian offensive near the ZNPP itself.

In any case, Russia will use the threat of a deliberate radiological explosion to deter a Ukrainian counteroffensive and intimidate the West before the upcoming NATO summit.

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My sources in the military believe that the West still underestimates the scale of the nuclear threat. The Kremlin's nuclear scaremongering may also not be as "gentle" as armchair analysts in the West believe. Sources remind us that when the occupiers blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, they also wanted to "just scare" us, but the catastrophe far exceeded the expectations of the sabotagers.

Let me remind you that about a month ago, the bunker old man openly threatened to create a "sanitary zone" on the territory of Ukraine.

None of the so-called nuclear scenarios will bring strategic military advantages to the occupying group and aims to cause maximum damage to Ukraine. The paranoid Fuhrer is trying to exploit his last weapon - fear - to delay the moment when he will be taken over by the medics. Therefore, the fate of the ZNPP depends entirely on how convincingly the West demonstrates its resolve to the Kremlin.

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About the author. Orest Sohar, journalist, editor-in-chief of Obozrevatel

The editorial staff do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.