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According to TASS and Russia Today (RT) on August 22 local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a cabinet meeting on the situation in the hungry border area that afternoon and said that the Ukrainian army attempted to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant on the evening of August 21 local time. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been notified and promised to come to assess the situation.

Earlier this month, Ukraine sent thousands of soldiers to raid Russia's Kursk region in an attempt to reach the town of Kurchatov, where the Kursk nuclear power plant is located. Moscow has identified the Ukrainian military's actions as "terrorist acts" and deployed more troops to repel the enemy.

Earlier, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant was at very serious risk of damage due to the actions of the Ukrainian army. He also said that he planned to visit the site of the nuclear power plant next week to communicate with the management of the nuclear power plant and determine whether an attack had occurred. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova announced that the details of Grossi's visit are currently being prepared.

However, TASS quoted Renat Karchaa, a member of the Zaporizhia regional legislature, as saying in an interview that he believed that even if Grossi came, the IAEA would be unlikely to admit that Ukraine posed a nuclear security threat because every time a nuclear risk arose, the agency expressed "serious concern" but did not identify the culprit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds cabinet meeting

"Last night, the enemy tried to attack the (Kursk) nuclear power plant," Putin said at a cabinet meeting. "The International Atomic Energy Agency has been notified and they promised to come in person and send experts to assess the situation. I hope they will do so."

Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the IAEA has deployed observers at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant in the summer of 2023, when Ukrainian troops allegedly attempted to seize Europe's largest nuclear facility. Earlier this month, a cooling tower at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant caught fire after an attack, with both Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of being responsible.

Earlier, Rosatom General Director Alexey Likhachev had discussed the situation at the two nuclear power plants with IAEA Director General Grossi and invited him to visit Kursk to personally assess the situation.

An IAEA spokesman told AFP that Grossi had accepted the invitation and planned to visit Kursk next week. After that, he will also visit Kiev and hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to Grossi, the IAEA is very concerned about any combat operations near the Kursk nuclear power plant because it operates the same type of reactor as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

"There is no protective dome around (they), just a normal roof, which means that the core of the reactor is quite exposed," Grossi said. He added that the deployment of troops within artillery range "is very worrying for me and the IAEA", but he did not specify which troops he was referring to.

Russia's Kursk Nuclear Power Plant

TASS said that "although IAEA staff are fully aware that Kiev is the culprit," Moscow has repeatedly criticized the IAEA, saying that the agency has never pointed out the perpetrators of the attack on nuclear facilities.

The report also quoted the views of Kacha, a member of the Zaporizhia regional legislature, as saying: "The IAEA is an agency of the United Nations and is now dominated by 'unfriendly countries' towards us, first and foremost the United States. It is difficult to imagine that the IAEA can resist this trend, this objectively existing situation." Kacha said that every time a nuclear risk arises, the IAEA expresses "serious concern" but does not specify the culprit.

"The Kiev regime is the only threat to nuclear safety, both at the Zaporizhia and Kursk nuclear power plants," Kacha said, adding: "I am 100% sure that what Grossi will confirm during this visit is that (the Kursk nuclear power plant) is taking extensive, unconditional and highly professional measures to ensure nuclear safety."

On the morning of August 6, local time, Ukrainian troops broke into the territory of Kursk Oblast, Russia. This was the largest attack launched by Ukraine on Russian territory since the outbreak of the conflict.

However, the fighting in Kursk Oblast posed a threat to the safety of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia. According to CCTV News, a huge explosion was heard over the city of Kurchatov, where the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is located, in the early morning of August 18 local time.

At the same time, the security situation at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which is controlled by Russia, is also deteriorating. On August 11, local time, a fire broke out in a cooling tower of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. Both Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the cause of the fire. However, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Ulyanov said on August 18 that IAEA experts have determined that the cooling tower fire has nothing to do with Russia.

Grossi expressed concern about the security threats facing the two nuclear power plants and called on the warring parties to exercise restraint. He said in a statement: "I remain extremely concerned and once again call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and strictly abide by the five specific principles established to protect the nuclear power plants."

As Ukraine launched a new offensive on Kursk, the Financial Times reported that the border raid on Kursk Oblast launched by the Ukrainian army not only failed to contain the Russian troops on the Donbass front, but instead accelerated the Russian army's offensive in the direction of Donetsk.

According to reports, the Ukrainian army has withdrawn more than 10,000 soldiers from the Donbass front, all of whom are elite troops, and the current priority for replenishment of ammunition and troops is in the Kursk direction. This has led to the Russian army's accelerated progress in the Donetsk direction. On August 20, the Russian army announced that it had captured the important hub town of "New York" in eastern Ukraine.

However, the Ukrainian army is still preparing to launch a larger-scale offensive in the direction of Kursk. At present, the Ukrainian army has deployed more reserve brigades and blown up three floating bridges on the Seym River southwest of Kursk. The US "War Zone" column said that this means that the Ukrainian army hopes to attack and seize the Kursk area on the south bank of the river.