Russia is using civilian nuclear facilities in Ukraine for military purposes and nuclear blackmail, thereby endangering the global nuclear security architecture. Lars van Dassen, Executive Director of the World Institute for Nuclear Safety (Austria), made this statement during the 18th annual Kyiv Security Forum, which was held under the theme "Darkness or Dawn: Is Light Ahead?"

"We are witnessing something that many would prefer not to acknowledge. We always want to separate peaceful atom from military nuclear energy, but what kind of peaceful nuclear energy can we talk about if the Russians are storing dangerous materials at the very location of these reactors?” van Dassen said.

He explained that, prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia was involved in many projects. "Then the war began, and those same people, members of those same institutions, arrived as aggressors who had seized the facility," the Executive Director of the World Institute for Nuclear Safety emphasized.

He added, "It's very sad, but little is said about this."
"Russia occupied the Zaporizhzhia NPP to use it as a form of nuclear deterrence," he said. According to van Dassen, before that, the Russians frequently threatened to use nuclear weapons and then seized the nuclear facility.

“They continue their threats, and everyone is aware of what the consequences could be if, say, a fire breaks out, and there is a radiation leak… In the civilian sphere, the situation is already crossing the line into military application,” the Executive Director of the World Institute for Nuclear Safety concluded. 

Kyiv Security Forum (KSF) is an annual international event launched in 2007 on the initiative of Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation. This year it is held on April 23-24.