Why Kremlin fabricated "Ukrainian attack on ZNPP": Military and NSDC expose enemy's goal

Russia has carried out another information and military provocation around occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP. After explosions once again rocked Europe’s largest nuclear plant due to shelling, the Kremlin hastily blamed Ukrainian forces.
TSN.ua looked into Ukraine's response and the current situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Russia’s provocative statement

Alexey Likhachev, head of Rosatom, accused Ukraine of an alleged drone attack on the turbine hall of the plant’s sixth power unit.

"Today at noon, a Ukrainian combat kamikaze drone struck the turbine hall building of the 6th power unit, followed by detonation. The explosion did not damage main equipment, but a hole was formed in the wall of the turbine hall," Likhachev cynically told Russian propagandists.

Trying to give the fake narrative more weight, the Russian official claims the drone was allegedly controlled via fiber optics, which, in his view, completely rules out any chance of an accidental hit or loss of control.

The Russians have also already "complained" to the IAEA about the so-called "Ukrainian strike."
"We have just informed IAEA staff," said one of the Russian-appointed "overseers" at ZNPP.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces respond

In response to Russia's accusations, the Southern Defense Forces stressed that the Russian Federation continues to use ZNPP as a tool for nuclear blackmail and informational provocations.

They dismissed claims of an alleged Ukrainian strike on ZNPP facilities as another attempt to discredit Ukraine and cover up Russia's own criminal actions.

“Ukraine’s Defense Forces did not strike Unit 6 of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Ukrainian servicemen operate strictly within the norms of international humanitarian law and are fully aware of the consequences of any actions against nuclear facilities," the military said.

Instead, the Defense Forces reminded that Russia has illegally held ZNPP under military control since March 2022, turning a civilian nuclear site into military infrastructure. The Russians violate regulations by placing heavy weaponry within the five-kilometer zone, deploying electronic warfare systems, hardware, and troops right on the station's territory.

"Systematic manipulation of nuclear safety issues is a core component of the policy of nuclear terrorism that Russia is conducting against Ukraine and the international community," the military said.

The Russians are deliberately avoiding showing high-quality photos or videos of the alleged aftermath of the strike. Furthermore, Ukrainian forces lack fiber-optic-guided drones with that kind of operating range, as well as drones carrying 5–6 kg shaped-charge warheads—the exact payload required to blast a hole like the one described by the Russian side, the military explained.

"Moreover, the occupying forces themselves deployed a multi-layered smoke screen around ZNPP—the device physically could not fly through it undetected. The version pushed by Russia does not withstand any factual scrutiny," the Defense Forces said, debunking the occupiers' lie.

Why Russia is lying again

The Defense Forces stressed that Russian claims about an alleged Ukrainian strike on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant are yet another information provocation by the aggressor state and not the first such statement from Moscow.

“The pattern is well-rehearsed: following consecutive losses on the front line, a loud accusation against Ukraine emerges, designed to divert international attention. Traditionally, the Russian side provides zero evidence—and this time was no exception," the statement reads.

Military experts and analysts have repeatedly emphasized that such absurd accusations from Moscow serve as a familiar information backdrop. Russia regularly stages false-flag provocations at the ZNPP in an effort to discredit Ukraine internationally.

Andriy Kovalenko, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC, suggests that Russia is trying to use this lie to cover up both its own strike on a residential high-rise in Romania and its 2025 attack on the Chernobyl shelter.

“Russia, which seized the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in 2022, regularly launched drones at Nikopol from the plant’s territory and continuously staged provocations. Now it is falsely claiming that Ukraine attacked its own nuclear power station with a drone. It provides no evidence whatsoever. They are ordinary liars and fabricators who cover up their own failures with provocations of their own making,” Kovalenko wrote.

Loss of communication at the ZNPP

For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Zaporizhzhia NPP suffered a critical 12-hour communication failure. According to the IAEA, on May 27, Zaporizhzhia NPP lost landline telephone communication and internet access for nearly 12 hours.