The Russian army has set up firing positions at the nuclear reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP). They are visible on satellite images.
The photos were published on Twitter by the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain.
The pictures are dated March 2023. Certain extensions are visible on the roofs of reactors 2, 3, and 5. In particular, on the roof of the second reactor you can see something similar to a booth or an observation post, and on the roof of the third there are firing positions that are protected by sandbags.
According to British intelligence, this means that the ZNPP reactors are integrated into the plantʼs tactical defenses, so there is a high risk of their damage during hostilities.
- The ZNPP was occupied by the Russian military at the beginning of March 2022 and has been operating under their control since then. Since August, the occupiers have been regularly shelling the ZNPP and Energodar, as a result of which the station was completely disconnected from the power grid several times.
- In September, a 14-person IAEA delegation visited the station, after which agency employees remained at the ZNPP. They change periodically.
- Ukraine insists on the withdrawal of the Russian occupiers from the station. Volodymyr Zelensky stated that while Russian soldiers are at the ZNPP, "the world remains on the brink of a radiation disaster."