The Russian military will unleash a swift retaliation if Ukraine launches an attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant, located not far from the frontline following Kiev’s cross-border incursion, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has warned.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said it was taking very seriously reports of Kiev’s plans to attack the Kursk NPP, located about 90 km from the Ukraine-Russia border, which has become the scene of fierce fighting in recent days.

According to the military, the purpose of such a “provocation” would be to accuse Russia of attacking the plant

“If the Kiev regime begins to realize its criminal plans aimed at creating a man-made disaster in the European part of the continent that would infer the radioactive contamination of vast territories, tough military and military-technical countermeasures will be taken immediately”.

While the ministry did not give details of a possible retaliation, it noted that Kiev’s preparations for an attack on the Kursk plant – which Moscow claims are backed by the West – would contradict a UN resolution on combating nuclear terrorism.

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