The UN fears Ukraine could damage or destroy the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia...

 

The Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia. Politico/Getty.

The UN fears that Ukraine could damage or destroy the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia. Politico. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi led a mission to the plant and inspected damage caused by a reported Ukrainian attack. He was shown evidence of drone strikes. The Kursk plant is vulnerable to drone and artillery strikes due to not having a protective dome like many nuclear power plants. However, he said that neither side can allow a nuclear "accident" to happen. 

My Comment:

Once again the media is behind the story. The point of the Kursk offensive, possibly the entire point, was the hold the power plant hostage. Doing so would be about the only thing that Ukraine could do to gain leverage against Russia as they are losing the war by conventional means. The attack on the plant was a proof of concept. 

So far though the attack failed and Ukraine really hasn't been able to get close enough to the plant to attack it. America has forbidden Ukraine from using the kinds of long range weapons that could actually hit this power plant. They tried drone strikes but they were not effective enough to actually do much damage.

Of course a successful attack on the Kursk plant would be a massive disaster and one that could utterly change the course of the war. It would probably be Chernobyl style disaster that would leave hundreds or thousands of people dead and would increase cancer rates across the region for decades. It would be horrific. 

And the worst part? It would allow the Russians to return the favor and destroy Ukrainian nuclear power plants, including Chernobyl. Though Russia has mostly destroyed Ukraine's power generation capabilities, they have mostly left the nuclear power plants alone for this very reason. Destroying nuclear power plants would lead for tit-for-tat retaliations that would damage the entire region and kill thousands of people in horrific ways. 

I don't know that Ukraine cares about that though. They know that they are losing the war and their only hope is to somehow bring NATO into the war. Tit-for-tat strikes on nuclear power plants could do that. It  could also finally make NATO wise up and pull out of the war, but  I think Ukraine wants to risk it. 

Indeed, they have done this song and dance before. They tried to attack the  Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant many times. It mostly failed because that plant was shut down and isn't as vulnerable to attacks compared to the one in Kursk. But they have absolutely done this before and if given the chance they will do it again. 

The good news is that their plan appears to have failed and the international community is coming down on Ukraine for trying this. The IAEA is obviously upset about this and it might be part of the reason why Germany cut off aid. And they aren't going to get long range weapons from America if this is what they are going to do with it. 

But there is still a chance of another major attack on the Kursk power plant. Though they are barred from using US long range weapons, it's possible that Britain will allow Ukraine to use theirs. Plus, Ukraine does have some long range drones that could potentially hit the plant. And supposedly Ukraine has developed their own ballistic missiles, the Palianytsia. This new missile could be used to strike the Kursk plant...