Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov on Monday denied information that Russian troops are preparing to leave Europe’s largest Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, TASS reports.
“There is no need to look for signs where there are none and cannot be,” Peskov emphasized to journalists’ questions in Moscow during the daily press conference.
His comments came after Petro Kotin, CEO of Ukraine’s state-owned Energoatom NAEC, said late Sunday that he saw signs that Moscow’s troops were preparing to leave the nuclear plant, which they captured in March shortly after the invasion began.
“In recent weeks, in fact, we have been receiving information that there are signs that they are probably preparing to leave (the plant),” the head of Energoatom told Kyiv public television.
“First of all, there are a lot of reports in the Russian media that it would be better to leave (the station) and maybe it would be worth transferring control (of it) (to the International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA). )”, he said, referring to the UN organization.
For months, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing the Zaporizhia reactor complex, which no longer produces electricity.
The Russians brought military equipment to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant
When asked if it is too early to say that Russian troops will leave the plant, Kotin said that “it is too early, but we can say that they are preparing.”
Russian troops pulled in military equipment, personnel and trucks, “probably with weapons and explosives,” and mined the area of the plant, a Ukrainian official said.
The administration installed by the invading forces in the occupied city of Energodar, built to service the nuclear power plant, in turn said on Monday that it remained under Russian control.
“The media is actively spreading the lie that Russia plans to withdraw Energodar and leave (NPP). This information is not true,” the Russian-backed administration said in a Telegram message.
The Kremlin has repeatedly refused to demilitarize the Zaporizhia NPP, despite international appeals, but temporarily recalled military equipment there during a visit to the IAEA mission station in early September.
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Source: Hot News
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