Russia said on Wednesday (28) that its forces had defused unexploded munitions supplied by the United States and fired by Ukraine that were shot down just 5 km from Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant, which Moscow accused Ukrainian forces of trying to hit.
The announcement was made by Russia’s National Guard and accompanied by a video of unexploded ordnance and sapper soldiers detonating it.
It came a day after Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, inspected the plant, which he said was vulnerable due to the lack of a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, drones or artillery.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Russia’s alleged discovery, and Reuters was unable to independently verify the location of the video.
Ukrainian forces crossed Russia’s western border into the Kursk region on August 6 in a surprise incursion that is still ongoing, and fighting is taking place about 40 km (25 miles) from the nuclear facility.
Ukraine has yet to respond to an accusation made last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin that it tried to attack the plant.
Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, declined to elaborate on Tuesday on whether he held Ukraine responsible or not.
The Rosgvardiya, Russia’s National Guard, said in a statement that its sapper soldiers found a projectile from a US-supplied HIMARS multiple launch rocket system 5 km (3 miles) from the plant, and a rocket fragment that they said contained 180 unexploded munitions.
A video released about the discovery showed two soldiers inspecting fragments of the rocket, which they said was shot down by Russian air defenses and partially exploded in mid-air.
One of the fragments they inspected was marked “M101 GRENADES.” They were shown piling the munitions into a hole in the ground and detonating them in a controlled explosion.
This content was originally published in Russia says it has deactivated unexploded ordnance near the Kursk nuclear power plant on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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