Russia is planning ‘terrorist’ incident at Chernobyl, Ukraine’s defense ministry alleges

Defense Intelligence of Ukraine has alleged that Russia is planning a “terrorist” incident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine.

The news: Per CNN, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence said in a Facebook post Friday that the current “available intelligence says Putin has ordered his troops to prepare a terror attack at Chernobyl for which the Russian invaders will try to blame Ukraine.” 

What they said: “Putin is preparing a terrorist attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” the Defense Intelligence account tweeted.

• “A man-made catastrophe is planned at the CNPP controlled by Russian forces, for which the occupiers will try to shift responsibility to Ukraine.”

Flashback: Earlier this week, the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine  was disconnected from the power grid after Russian forces attacked the plant, as I reported for the Deseret News.

• “Because of military actions of Russian occupiers the nuclear power plant in Chornobyl was fully disconnected from the power grid. The nuclear station has no power supply,” said Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo in a statement.

Why it matters: Electricity is needed to keep the extinguishing system running at Chernobyl, halting any nuclear leaks, per The Washington Post.

• Such a leak could send a “radioactive cloud” across Europe, per The Daily Beast.