A Ukraine official dismissed as "propaganda" Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim Thursday that Ukraine attempted to strike a nuclear power plant in the Kursk region seized by Kyiv's troops less than three weeks ago.
“The enemy tried to strike the nuclear power plant last night,” Putin said at a meeting in Moscow detailing issues faced by Russia's Ukraine border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk. Even before the assault on Kursk , areas along the border had faced frequent missile and drone strikes.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had intercepted a Ukrainian drone over the Kursk region during an overnight attack. Putin said the International Atomic Energy Agency had been informed and would send specialists to assess the the plant, more than 35 miles from the Ukraine border. Kursk Gov. Alexey Smirnov said the plant remained stable.
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, called such an attack "propaganda" and "Russia's desired scenario" so Moscow could accuse Kyiv of nuclear terrorism.
Thousands of Ukrainian troops crashed across the Russian border into Kursk on Aug. 6, seizing hundreds of square miles of Russian land and taking hundreds of Russian troops prisoner.
Ukraine targets Moscow: Massive drone attack one of largest since war began
Developments:
∎ The Russian Defense Ministry said it was continuing to advance into eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military's General Staff said the fighting on the eastern front remained intense and that Russian troops had launched 53 assaults and offensive actions near the transport hub of Pokrovsk in the last day.
∎ A fire broke out in the Russian port of Kavkaz on Thursday following a Ukrainian attack on a ferry loaded with fuel tanks, the local authorities said. No details on the extent of the damage were revealed.
∎ Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there had been a decrease in shelling and in civilian casualties since the Kursk operation.
One week in Kursk: Maps show evolution of Ukrainian incursion as Russia builds trenches
Ukraine's counteroffensive into Kursk has dealt "a severe blow to Russian President Putin's narrative," the EU's top diplomat said. Josep Borrell urged Western nation to increase the pressure on Putin's forces by allowing Kyiv to use Western-supplied, long-range weapons deep inside Russia to help slow the assault on eastern Ukraine. The strategy would strengthen Ukraine's defenses by ending Russia’s "sanctuary for its bombardments of Ukrainian cities" and thus save lives, reduce destruction in Ukraine and help advance peace efforts, Borrell said.
Zelenskyy this week pleaded with Western backers to ease the restrictions.
"The situation ... is such that any further delay by our partners in this matter effectively supports Russia’s offensive potential,'' Zelenskyy said.
Russia said its troops had beaten back an attempt by a Ukrainian force to infiltrate its border about 150 miles from where Ukraine successfully seized land in Kursk on Aug. 6. If true it indicates the Kyiv government may be aiming to take the war to more border areas. The Russian military also said it had halted Ukraine's advance into Kursk, although Zelenskyy said at least one additional village in the region was seized Thursday.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told a visiting delegation of U.S. congressmen that Kyiv's attack on Kursk was part of a solely defensive strategy.
"Our goals there are to clear the border from Russian military threats and make enemy shelling and attacks on our towns and villages impossible," he said.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine dismisses Putin claim of attack on Russian nuclear plant as 'propaganda'
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