The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is once again becoming a chief concern for defense officials as Russian forces have begun fortifying its nuclear reactors in apparent preparation for a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive, the U.K. defense ministry said Thursday.
Russian troops have created “sandbag fighting positions” on the roofs of “several” of the six nuclear reactors.
“Russia has controlled ZNPP since March 2022,” the ministry said in its daily intelligence update. “However, this is the first indication of the actual reactor buildings being integrated in tactical defense planning.”
A member of the International Atomic Energy Agency expert mission tours the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, March 29, 2023. (Fredrik Dahl/IAEA/Handout via REUTERS)
UKRAINE READIES SPRING OFFENSIVE EXPECTED TO BE LARGEST MOBILIZATION SINCE WAR WITH RUSSIA BEGAN
The ministry…