''The confession made by a Ukrainian high-ranking official will be a cold shower for the UN,'' Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Russian media.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated that the Zelensky regime sees the NPP as a "dirty bomb" and a kind of blackmail against Europe. The Russian Federation has provided comprehensive data about the Ukrainian shelling of the NPP on all nuclear security-focused platforms. Everything we have talked about will further be conclusively confirmed," she said.
Zakharova also stressed that UN representatives have repeatedly failed to identify where the strikes were coming from.
Earlier, it was reported that Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, acknowledged that Ukraine had indeed made several attempts to shell the Zaporozhye NPP. He was quoted by Ukrainian media as saying that ''Kiev had tried to capture the Zaporozhye NPP three times. However, their attempts proved futile as Russian troops repelled all attacks.''
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that a Ukrainian landing force unit had been destroyed while attempting to seize the Zaporozhye NPP on October 19, 2022. At the time, Ukrainian forces had deployed up to two companies of military personnel and 37 vessels. Russian warplanes eliminated 90 servicemen and 14 boats. Meanwhile, Ukraine used artillery to scatter the remaining soldiers through the Kakhovka dam.
The Russian Minister of Defense has repeatedly stressed that the Kiev regime was trying to create a supposed nuclear threat by continuing to target the Zaporozhye NPP. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has consistently emphasized the importance of creating a secure zone around the facility.