Explosions were heard in Kurchatov in Russia’s Kursk region, where a nuclear power plant is located, Telegram channels reported on Tuesday, as Ukrainian forces conducted a series of cross-border raids.
“Sounds of explosions in the sky over Kurchatov, Kursk region. There is a nuclear power plant in the city,” Telegram channel Country Politics reported, sharing a video it obtained from a local resident.
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The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is located about 40 kilometers [25 miles] west of the city of Kursk and is approximately 110 kilometers [68 miles] from the border with Ukraine.
Fierce clashes erupted in Kursk, which borders Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, after Ukraine deployed troops and armored vehicles into the area. By Tuesday evening, some 90 percent of residents from Kursk’s Sudzhansky District were evacuated from four settlements, RBC Ukraine reported.
Some Russian military bloggers, including Russian war correspondent Alexander Sladkov, have speculated that Ukrainian forces are planning to take control of the nuclear power plant in Kurchatov.
There is no evidence to suggest that Ukraine intends to capture the nuclear power plant.
“Why does the Ukrainian Armed Forces need the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant? It will come in handy. There are many options,” Sladkov said. He added that Ukraine will demand that its forces will leave Kursk only if Russian forces leave the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).
The nuclear plant—Europe’s largest—has been under Russian control since early March 2022, just days after President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. It was one of the first sites to be seized by Russian forces.
Ukraine may also “demand that troops be withdrawn” from the country, “otherwise they will blow up the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (it is impossible to blow it up with artillery and missiles), causing a gigantic catastrophe,” said Sladkov.
Ukrainian forces may attempt to “disable the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant without incident, making it inoperative, thereby depriving Russia of this largest source of energy,” he added.
Newsweek has contacted Ukrainian authorities for comment by email.
X (formerly Twitter) user Dmitri, from War Translated, an independent project that translates materials about the war, said Wednesday that Russian propagandists “badly want to spread the theory about the intention of the UAF [Ukrainian Armed Forces] to seize the Kursk nuclear power plant.”
“It’s understandable: after all, it is their favorite technique – the Russians are excellent at nuclear terrorism and blackmail, they’ve already captured the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants earlier,” he wrote.
“However, the distance from the border to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is almost 100 kilometers, and it is located close to the city of Kursk. You’d need a huge amount of forces to not only reach it, but also capture and then hold it,” Dmitri added.
Last August, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, citing the country’s National Resistance Center, said leaked documents were obtained that showed the Kremlin was preparing a provocation at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
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