Presidents of Poland, Slovakia Call for Increased Vigilance Over Nuclear Threat From Russia

The Polish and Slovak leaders believe that their countries should take into account the danger of possible Russian attacks on nuclear power plants in Ukraine.

This was stated by Andrzej Duda and Peter Pellegrini, according to PAP and Aktuality.

Earlier on Wednesday, at the UN General Assembly, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia was planning attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

Duda recalled that Russia has so far attacked the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. He added that ‘fortunately, there was no nuclear disaster’.

‘This danger of an attack on the remaining power plants - whether Rivne or Khmelnytsky - exists, and it must be taken into account. If there are attacks, we will need to immediately intervene in this matter, call in experts...’, Duda stressed.

The President of Slovakia, in turn, said that the Slovak nuclear watchdog and other authorities should increase vigilance so that the country could respond to a possible nuclear incident in Ukraine. 

‘The authorities of the Slovak Republic must now increase their vigilance and be prepared to regularly measure radiation levels on the Slovak-Ukrainian border,’ Pellegrini said.

He warned that a possible Russian attack on Ukraine's nuclear facilities could lead to a tragedy similar to Chernobyl, and radioactive fallout could reach Ukraine's neighbours. Therefore, Slovakia should be ready to take appropriate measures on its own.

Pellegrini reminded that Slovakia, as a country with nuclear facilities, has the experience and technological base not to depend on information from abroad, which can be disguised in various ways.

‘As the international community, we must put maximum pressure on Russia to refrain from such dangerous actions,’ he added.

As The Gaze previously reported, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, during a visit to New York, reported intelligence that Russia was preparing to strike Ukraine's nuclear power system.