Russia behaves like “a monkey with a nuclear grenade” - Ukraine at UN

Russia is a threat to international security as it is attacking Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure.

That’s according to Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mykola Tochytskyi, who spoke at the UN event entitled “Nuclear Safety and Security Situation in Ukraine: Threats to International Security in connection with the seizure of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities by Russian Federation,” an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“From the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Russian armed forces have been indiscriminately targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure, including critical facilities thus creating unprecedented nuclear threats to Ukraine and far beyond,” Tochytskyi said.

Moscow behaves like “a monkey with a nuclear grenade,” while the international community is witnessing how nuclear terrorism, sponsored by a nuclear power, the Russian Federation, is arising, the senior diplomat said.

The Ukrainian diplomat noted that the Russian invasion in February 2022 exposed the inability of the international organizations to provide an adequate response to the new challenges and nuclear risks related to war. International Atomic Energy Agency so far has not elaborated a reliable plan of action in case if a nuclear power plant is under shelling by heavy weaponry or becomes an object for constant overflies of the cruise missiles.

“We have been witnessing the barbaric attacks on both non-functioning Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the largest active Nuclear Power Plant in Europe in Enerhodar,” the deputy minister stressed.

“For the first time in history, civil nuclear facilities have become a factor in warfare tactics. The aggressor state treats NPPs like a normal battleground, it doesn’t try at all to care about nuclear safety. Russians use the Ukrainian nuclear facilities as a springboard for the attacks on the Ukrainian military and civil objects as well as a warehouse for their explosive ammunition,” Tochytskyi said.

The term “threat” has become dominant in the Non-Proliferation Treaty review process. The risk of a major man-made nuclear disaster in Europe is growing.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Tochytskyi, while speaking at the UN, called on the international community to close the Ukrainian sky over the nuclear power stations.