Moscow, 22 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Thursday of attempting an attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant, without providing evidence.

Putin made the comments during a meeting in Moscow on the situation in the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian troops launched a counteroffensive about two weeks ago.

"The enemy attempted to carry out strikes at the nuclear power plant today," Putin said, according to the state news agency TASS. Putin added that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been informed and was preparing a mission to Kursk.

The nuclear power plant in the town of Kurchatov is around 30 kilometres away from the furthest Ukrainian advance.

It is currently unclear whether the facility is a specific target of the Ukrainian operations. Nonetheless, security measures at the plant have been significantly heightened.

A spokesman for Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, has confirmed a planned visit to the Kursk nuclear power plant next week.

Gossi was cited in the Financial Times newspaper as saying that the nuclear power plant is within range of Ukrainian artillery positions which is of "special concern."

After the Ukrainian advance began, the IAEA warned that the safety of nuclear power plants must not be jeopardized. The same applies to Kursk as to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, it said.

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