By Josh Lederman, Mary-Ann Russon -
NBC News
Russia has ordered employees at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine not to report to work this Friday, Ukrainian military intelligence sources exclusively told our sister network NBC News.
Both countries have denounced alleged plans to provoke an incident this Friday at Europe's largest nuclear plant.
[Alert for the possibility of a nuclear disaster]
Russia threatened on Thursday to close the plant, warning of the risk of a bombing disaster that it blames on Ukraine, which for its part blames the invading Russian troops for these attacks on the plant.
"There is new information, it came about half an hour ago, that there is an order that most of the personnel should not go to work on August 19," said Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, to NBCNews.
“This is what the Russians told their people, mainly Rosatom employees,” he said, referring to the Russian nuclear agency.
"We do not rule out the possibility of mass Russian provocations tomorrow on the territory of the [nuclear power plant]," Yusov added, "that is confirmed by their propaganda, information from our sources and the behavior of the Russians at the station."
Nuclear accident drill in Zaporizhzhia on August 17. STRINGER / REUTERS
[Why is there concern about the nuclear plant that Russia took over? These are the risks of a large-scale catastrophe]
NBC News reached out to Russia but received no response.
The Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine and its "American puppet masters" on Thursday of planning a "minor accident" on Friday at the plant in southern Ukraine, which is under its control after the invasion of Ukraine, with the alleged purpose of blaming them. .
He said, without providing evidence, that the "provocation" (which may be a radioactive leak) was timed to coincide with the visit of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to Ukraine.