![]() ![]() The Russian attack on and seizure of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station near the city of Enerhodar, about 340 miles southeast of Kyiv, may also have been motivated in part by its location along a route of advancing forces. Not only did it serve as a useful point of encampment for Russian troops in preparation for the attack on the Ukrainian capital, but it must have been viewed by Russian military planners as a safe haven from counter-attacks due to the huge quantity of radioactive material still present in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The first, particularly relevant to the seizure of the Chernobyl plant, has to do with its location: about 12 miles from the Belarussian-Ukrainian border along the northern invasion route to Kyiv. However, it appears that Russian military planners were motivated to seize Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia - and possibly Yuzhnoukrainsk, Rivne, and Khmelnytskyi as well - in pursuit of several military objectives. ![]() It is tempting to portray Russian military action against Ukraine’s nuclear power infrastructure as not only immoral and illegal - which it is - but also irrational. Until far more stringent and enforceable rules against attacking civilian nuclear facilities are adopted, the entire international community is at great risk. Russia is also undermining widely accepted international legal norms and traditions from which it itself benefits. In doing so, however, it has put the operation of nuclear power facilities at risk, with unpredictable health and environmental consequences. In seizing Ukraine’s nuclear reactors, Russia may be seeking a safe haven for its military forces, or hoping to exploit its control over electricity generation. Why have these civilian nuclear facilities been the object of attack, and what are the likely consequences of this high-risk military action by Moscow? ![]() On March 2, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency deplored Russia’s seizure of these facilities, but Moscow paid little heed. A third, Yuzhnoukrainsk, is at risk, with Russian troops reportedly less than 20 miles away. Russian forces now occupy two of Ukraine’s five nuclear power stations, Chernobyl (nonoperational) and Zaporizhzhia. Editor’s note: Don’t miss our comprehensive guide to Russia’s war against Ukraine. ![]()
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