RT reported that speaking in an interview with journalist Alexandr Shelest, Mr. Aleksey Arestovich - former advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - said that Ukrainian Military Intelligence Director Kirill Budanov had proposed a plan to destroy the nuclear power plant if the war turned unfavorable, citing the need to prevent Russia from taking over nuclear facilities.
Mr. Budanov had been running around with this idea for more than a year. The plan is to blow up everything - both Russian factories that we can reach, and Ukrainian factories themselves - so that no one can control them... The view is: If we have to die, they will die too, Arestovich revealed.
According to former adviser Arestovich, Washington is not interested in that reckless plan and wants to control Ukrainian nuclear plants to avoid disaster.
They consider the Ukrainian leadership to be too dangerous and unpredictable. So the US wants to control these facilities before the worst happens, Arestovich stressed.
US President Donald Trump has proposed a plan for the US to take over and operate Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Mr. Trump affirmed that this will help protect Ukraine's nuclear infrastructure better.
However, President Zelensky denied the information, saying the two sides only discussed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) and the possibility of US investment in the Ukrainian energy sector.
Despite discussions between the US and Ukraine, ZNPP Director Yuri Chernichyuk said the facility belonged to Russia and was operated by Russia alone. He completely denied the possibility of the US or Ukraine controlling the ZNPP.
Russia has repeatedly accused Kiev of attacking the ZNPP and Kursk region, calling it an act of nuclear terrorism. In contrast, Ukraine blames Russia.
A group of international reporters recently visited the ZNPP and made a surprising conclusion: the actual evidence is in contradiction to what the Western media is reporting.
Western media say Russia is attacking the plant. But when I came here, I saw Russian security forces protecting the factory, said Indian journalist Manish Kumar Jha.
A Serbian reporter also discovered debris from a US-supplied missile near the plant, while a Slovenia journalist pointed to NATO-made 155 mm shells scattered around the area.
Reporters have accused Ukraine of being behind repeated bombings of the ZNPP. They also questioned the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s continuous refusal to determine the origin of the attacks.
ZNPP, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been under Russian control since March 2022 and is located in the region that was later voted to be a Russianapia.
The plant's operations are currently being monitored by Russia's state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the facility and the nearby city ofgod Enerar are often attacked by Ukrainian drones and artillery.
However, IAEA, which has maintained a permanent monitoring mission at the site since September 2022, has repeatedly refused to name the person responsible for the shelling.
