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Stop letting Putin divert attention to potential use of nuclear weapons while he is making preparations for creating a nuclear disaster at one of Ukraine’s Nuclear plants.
President Zelenskyy's visit received significant attention, as it should have.
His top priority request – permission to strike military targets in Russia – again was denied.
But what about President Zelenskyy’s warning at the U.N., and several other times, about Russian nuclear threats?
Where are the headlines? Where is the follow-up?
President Zelenskyy at the U.N.: “Recently, I received yet another alarming report from our intelligence. Now, Putin does seem to be planning attacks on our nuclear power plants and infrastructure, aiming to disconnect the plants from the power grid. Any missile or drone strike or any critical incident in the energy system could lead to a nuclear disaster. A day like that must never come.”
Zelenskyy did not isolate the threat to missiles or drones; he reported that Ukrainian intelligence reports Russia is planning attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power stations. Putin’s nuclear threats can be realized by using other means.
Does anyone remember Chornobyl? Does anyone recall the consequences? Many current experts and advisors were still in elementary school when Chornobyl exploded —Jake Sullivan was 9 years old.
But as recently as 2022, Russian soldiers moved into Chornobyl’s Exclusion Zone and began to dig trenches as part of the strategy to attack Kyiv. Within days, they were evacuated, suffering from radiation sickness, and the zone abandoned. So, while some security experts may not remember Chornobyl, they must know that Ukraine will live with the consequences of the nuclear “accident” for centuries.
Pay attention - Zelenskyy warned the world: Russia will not use a rocket to cause a nuclear disaster, rather in an effort to cut off Ukraine’s energy supply, they will, ooops, cause an “accident” at a nuclear power plant. This will destroy Ukraine, and Europe will again scramble to contain the nuclear fallout.
Where are the demands and warnings of consequences should the thugs in the Kremlin indeed be planning such a strategy? Where is the international condemnation?
Putin and Lavrov continue their nuclear weapons bluster because it works. Washington has been deterred.
But is the weapons bluster a diversion?
Zelenskyy’s warning was not delivered in a vacuum.
Within hours of Zelenskyy’s speech to the UNGA, the Kremlin responded with an updated nuclear doctrine focused on weapons. Were the Kremlin’s contemporaneous statements diversions, more of the same old, same old warhead bluster? Were their immediate statements an effort to draw attention away from Zelenskyy’s speech that revealed the Kremlin’s plans to create a nuclear “accident”?
Add this information to the dark words of Putin’s malevolent mouthpiece Sergey Lavrov, who also spoke at the United Nations. Lavrov warned that the West should not try "to fight to victory with a nuclear power" such as Russia, that attempts to defeat Russia would amount to "a suicidal escapade” by the West.
Putin and Lavrov continue their nuclear saber-rattling because it works. From the very beginning of Putin’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, three American administrations have been deterred in their response and support for Ukraine, trembling in the face of threatened “escalation.”
Again, pay attention: Zelenskyy was not calling attention to Russia’s nuclear arsenal. He wasn’t talking about Russia updating its’ nuclear arms policy, nor was he talking about Russia’s ongoing threats of using nuclear weapons.
Zelenskyy was warning that Ukrainian intelligence is reporting Russian plans to attack nuclear power plants to cause a nuclear disaster.
Chornobyl was essentially a case of Soviet incompetent carelessness with catastrophic human and environmental consequences.
An accident, purposeful sabotage, a rocket gone awry this winter at one of Ukraine’s three remaining nuclear power plants would be devastating, especially in the midst of war and winter, would destroy Ukraine, change the course of the war and world history.
Preempt the sabotage; call out the Kremlin.
Deter Russia by taking Zelenskyy’s warning seriously and announcing to the entire world that if anything happens to a Ukrainian nuclear power station, Ukraine’s intelligence reports will be proved correct and Russia will be held to account for its own “suicidal escapade.”
If Washington and the West ignore Zelenskyy’s warning and remain silent, they set the stage for sabotage and Russian deniability amid the darkness and death of another Chornobyl.
ROBERT MCCONNELL
Co-Founder, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
Director of External Affairs, Friends of Ukraine Network
These thoughts are Mr. McConnell’s and does not necessarily represent the views of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation or those of the Friends of Ukraine Network (FOUN).