All Russians involved in nuclear blackmail at Zaporizhia NPP must be tried by intl court – Zelensky

KYIV. Aug 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that all Russians involved in nuclear blackmail at Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (NPP) must be tried by an international court.

"The occupiers are trying to intimidate people in an extremely cynical way, using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. They actually hide behind the plant to fire at Nikopol and Marhanets. They arrange constant provocations with shelling of the territory of the nuclear power plant and try to bring their additional forces in this direction to blackmail our state and the entire free world even more," he said in a traditional video statement on Saturday, August 13.

According to him, "Russian blackmail only mobilizes even more global efforts to confront terror. Every day of the stay of the Russian contingent on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and in the neighboring regions of our country increases the radiation threat to Europe so much that even at the peak moments of the confrontation during the Cold War, this did not happen."

He said "Ukrainian diplomats and representatives of partner states will do everything to ensure that the new sanctions against Russia necessarily block the Russian nuclear industry."

"And absolutely all officials of the terrorist state, as well as those who help them in this blackmail operation with the nuclear power plant, must be tried by an international court. It will definitely be. And every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots under the cover of the plant, must understand that he is becoming a special target for our intelligence, for our secret service, for our army," the president said.

He also expressed gratitude to "all our energy workers who support the stable operation of the energy system of Ukraine and the Zaporizhzhia plant itself."