Putin warns of catastrophic consequences

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Sunday of the “catastrophic consequences” of attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe and occupied by Russian forces, the Kremlin said.

Mr. In a telephone interview with Macron, Vladimir Putin drew attention to “conventional Ukrainian attacks against the sites of the Zaporizhia power plant, including radioactive waste deposits, which could lead to catastrophic consequences,” according to a Kremlin statement.

“Underline the measures taken by Russian experts to ensure the safety of the plant and the need to put pressure on the Kyiv authorities to immediately stop the bombings targeting the plant,” the Russian president told his French counterpart.

The two leaders expressed their willingness to “cooperate apolitically on the situation surrounding the Zaporizhia power plant, with the participation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

According to the Kremlin, the interview took place at the initiative of the French president.

During the phone conversation, Vladimir Putin again condemned the supply of Western weapons to the Kiev regime, which were used for “massive bombing of the civil infrastructure of the Donbas cities” in the mining basin in the east of Ukraine.

The two leaders had already spoken on phone on August 19 about the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

Located in southern Ukraine and controlled by Russian forces, the plant, one of Europe’s largest, has been bombed several times in recent weeks, with Moscow and Kiev blaming each other for the strikes.

This situation raised fears of a major disaster similar to Chernobyl in 1986.

On Sunday, Ukraine announced the shutdown of the sixth and last operating reactor at the Zaporizhia power plant, explaining that it needed to cool it down.