Ukrainian intelligence: Russian occupiers have placed mines at cooler of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

The Russian troops have deployed explosives to the chiller unit located at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and any malfunction thereof could potentially result in dire consequences.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, informed about this in the Yedyny Novyny telethon.

Answering the question of whether there is a threat of an accident at the ZNPP, he specified that, unfortunately, as of now, there is actually a certain threat.

"First of all, the ZNPP was and is under the temporary control of the occupying forces. And the truth is that by destroying the dam, they destroyed the normal access of water to the coolers that work at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. But the second and most terrible thing is that behind this time, the ZNPP was additionally mined. And the worst thing is that the cooler itself was mined," said the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate.

According to the head of military intelligence, if the Russians disable the cooler by detonation, there is a high probability that there will be significant problems.

When asked if he would connect US President Joe Biden's statement that the Russians could use nuclear weapons with what is happening at the ZNPP, Budanov said no.

"Personally, I would not make a connection. I believe that these factors are not connected in any way. We are talking about different things here: the risk of using nuclear weapons and an artificial man-made catastrophe," he informed.

For reference:

On June 6, Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka HPP. Eighty settlements were in the flooding zone. Most of them are on the left bank of the Kherson region.

Earlier, State Enterprise «National Nuclear Energy Generating Company «Energoatom» reported that the water level in the ZNPP cooling pond is stable, and despite the Russians blowing up the Kakhovka HPP dam, the situation remains under control.

Prior to that, Petro Kotin, the president of Energoatom, explained that a "cold stop" is when the units do not work at all because they are in a "cold state."