Nuclear disaster threatening? "Mines have been laid, it will be worse than Chernobyl"
Russian military engineers planted explosives in a chemical factory in Crimea, right next to a large tank with poisonous acid, Ukrainian media reports.
Source: Jutarnji list
Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Oblast military Administration appointed by Ukraine, recently warned that the detonation of explosives would lead to a catastrophe worse than the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, the Kyiv Post writes.
Ukraine this week blamed Moscow for destroying a dam in Novaya Kakhovka, a town in southern Ukraine's Kherson region, causing massive flooding and the evacuation of thousands of civilians. On the other hand, Kremlin officials said that Ukraine sabotaged the dam.
Ukrainian military analyst Roman Svitan said the Russians could detonate explosives at the Crimean Titan factory in the Russian-occupied city of Armiansk if they fear a Ukrainian attack.
"The plant has already been completely mined, including tanks with acid, chlorine and reagents," Svitan told the Kyiv Post.
"Recently they started placing explosives there, because they saw that the Armed Forces of Ukraine could cross the Dnieper River and attack Armiansk. Blowing up the Crimean Titan will be useful for the Russians militarily, since the chemical fumes can slow down the movement of the Ukrainian army", he added.
In a video published on June 2 on Telegram, Prokudin warned that as a result of the explosion in the Crimean Titan, "a thousand tons of toxic substances would be released into the atmosphere," which would cause an incident "worse than Chernobyl."
"Inhabitants of Crimea and at least seven other Ukrainian regions will be affected, as well as Turkey, but also the aggressor country itself," said Prokudin.
The Crimean Titan plant was once one of Eastern Europe's largest producers of titanium dioxide pigment, a chemical used in paints, sunscreens, medicines and food coloring. However, the European Union banned the use of titanium dioxide as a food additive last year due to fears that it could be cancerous.
