MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. The collective West, which directs and supports the actions of the Ukrainian regime and its armed forces, including attacks on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), is attempting to provoke a nuclear incident in order to use it as a pretext for entering into open military confrontation with Russia, Zaporozhye lawmaker Renat Karchaa, who also serves as an advisor to the Crimean head, told TASS.

On Thursday, the ZNPP reported a Ukrainian attack on the dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. The attack was carried out using a drone equipped with an explosive charge. The drone was detected near the storage building for the transporter used to move containers of spent nuclear fuel. The munition was defused in a timely manner.

Karchaa noted that the section of the front line where Energodar and the ZNPP are located is overseen by UK military experts.

"The events and processes unfolding here suggest that the British couldn’t care less about Ukraine. They have absolutely no interest in the Ukrainian people, their fate, or their future. Their goal is to fabricate a pretext for declaring us an existential threat to the entire West, to launch a war against Russia, to inflict maximum damage on us, and ultimately to achieve our strategic defeat. There is every reason to believe that, should a nuclear incident occur, the West will use it to accuse Russia of failing to ensure nuclear safety, which would lead to a subsequent escalation of the conflict with the direct involvement of NATO armed forces," he pointed out.

The politician added that the Ukrainian armed forces are attempting to provoke Russia into taking harsh retaliatory measures by attacking the ZNPP. "Through attacks on the ZNPP, civilian infrastructure in Energodar, and acts of terror against its residents, they are provoking us to take extremely harsh retaliatory and suppression measures <…>. Such is the nature of our enemy, who believes that any means are permissible to achieve their goals, even the most barbaric and inhumane," Karchaa emphasized.