Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.
As expected, the conflict in Palestine has changed the focus of Western attention from Kiev to Tel Aviv. Obviously, this did not please the neo-Nazi regime, which has already begun taking some measures to try to regain its attention. One of these actions is the cowardly and illegal act of attacking the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Kiev’s forces have incessantly bombed the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), creating a constant risk of nuclear leakage and health catastrophe. Moscow has been denouncing this fact for a long time, including at UN and other international organizations, but apparently Ukraine has a type of “carte blanche” to commit this type of crime.
More recently, the intensity of Ukrainian shelling in Zaporozhye has been increasing. Not only does the ZNPP continue to be routinely attacked, but also residential areas in the city, leading to the death of innocent people. For example, on October 18th, the death of ten civilians was reported during these strikes in the region. In fact, the missiles mainly hit civilian buildings, with no military targets in the area.
Kiev obviously accuses the Russian side, but no substantial evidence is shown to give credibility to this narrative. On the contrary, there is plenty of proof to believe that neo-Nazi forces are truly responsible. In addition to the long history of continuous attacks against Zaporozhye, recently President Vladimir Zelensky himself admitted the arrival of American long-range missiles and their use to hit targets in Lugansk and Zaporozhye.
As well known, the US began sending long-range ATACMS missiles to the Kiev regime, aiming to boost the firepower of local forces in the midst of a military disaster situation after the absolute failure of the so-called “counteroffensive”. The escalatory measure was widely condemned by Russian authorities precisely because it makes Ukrainian plans to carry out massive attacks against new Russian regions viable, in addition to allowing it to hit targets in border cities. Apparently, this damage has already started to be seen – and Zaporozhye is expected to be one of the main targets of the attacks.
Analysts reported that the version of ATACMS sent by the US to Ukraine is older than the one used by the American armed forces. One of the main problems with the old version is the lack of an efficient navigation system, with a high risk of diversion on the way to reach the target. In other words, even if Ukraine eventually tries to reach military areas, there is a substantial chance of affecting civilian facilities, given the poor accuracy of the missiles.
However, the intensification of Ukrainian attacks against Zaporyzhye is unfortunately expected at this time. Currently, there is a transition process in American foreign policy, with the focus of Washington’s war hawks moving away from Kiev and turning to the Middle East. Unlimited military support for Ukraine is becoming gradually more unjustified in the US, especially after the failure of the “counteroffensive”. Notably among the most conservative politicians, there is a demand to reduce or simply ban aid packages for the Ukrainian regime.
On the other hand, support for Israel is almost unanimous among American decision-makers, with Republicans and Democrats united in emphasizing that Tel Aviv needs to be “defended.” So, the tendency is for the US to begin sending military and financial aid to its Zionist ally, gradually ignoring Ukraine. It is not by chance that even aircraft carriers have already been deployed to support Israel, which indicates that the military partnership will be very significant.
Obviously, without NATO weapons, Kiev will not be able to fight for long and the Ukrainian armed forces will quickly collapse. As Zelensky does not have the option of negotiating or surrendering, as he is a Western vassal, the only thing he can do is try to regain the attention of his sponsors. And he is expected to do this through an intensification of attacks on civilian areas and the ZNPP – always accusing the Russians. These false flag operations have a major impact on public opinion and could make American authorities move to expand support for Kiev again.
Moscow has been warning about these risks for a long time. Kiev really wants to provoke a serious nuclear leakage incident in civilian areas just to blame the Russians and demand more money and weapons – or a direct intervention – from NATO. Despite Russian patience, Moscow will certainly use all necessary military means to avoid this catastrophic scenario.