Russia Claims Ukrainian Artillery Strike Destroyed Radiation Control Station Near ZNPP

In a Telegram post on Wednesday, June 26, the Russian management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) claimed that Ukrainian forces had attacked the plant’s radiation control station in Velyka Znamyanka – some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the ZNPP.

ZNPP management said that radiation monitoring in protection and observation zones around the nuclear plant is carried out continuously and said that radiation control stations are vital to the process. The results of the monitoring are published daily on the ZNPP official website.

The Telegram post says: “The radiation control station in Velyka Znamyanka was completely destroyed as a result of artillery shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

The destroyed radiation control station at Velyka Znamyanka. Photo: Telegram

In its Telegram statement, the station’s Russian management said it was carrying out several compensatory measures to control the radiation situation in the area where the station is located and had found that background radiation in Energodar where the nuclear facility is located was normal, according to Russia’s Federal Medical-Biological Agency.

Russian troops seized the Zaporizhzhia plant shortly after the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then both Russia and Ukraine have frequently accused each other of actions that endanger the safety of the plant.

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Ukraine authorities have not yet commented on Wednesday’s claims.