In statements issued through official channels, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, who heads the Russian National Defense Control Center, described the July 18 attack on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant as having caused no damage to critical equipment and as having amounted to a man-made disaster only by chance. He attributed the incident to the actions of Ukrainian forces and framed it as a rare stroke of luck that prevented a catastrophe, according to reports from DEA News .
According to Mizintsev, two kamikaze drones targeted facilities within the Zaporozhye plant on Monday, July 18. He claimed that one of these drones was intercepted and destroyed before it could reach its intended objective, while the other drone reportedly struck or narrowly missed a non-essential area of the site. Mizintsev stressed that none of the plant’s essential equipment suffered damage and that, therefore, the station did not experience a man-made disaster as a result of the attack. The assertion was repeated in various press briefings and later summarized for audiences beyond the immediate frontline zones .
Beyond the plant itself, Mizintsev expanded the accusation to suggest that Ukrainian nationalists had begun fortifying medical facilities in separatist-held areas as part of broader operational preparations. He referred to the Donetsk People’s Republic and cited examples in Konstantinovka, where a city hospital designated as No. 1 on O. Tikhogo Boulevard was reportedly surrounded with fortified positions, armored vehicles, and artillery equipment. The claims extended to other medical complexes in the region, including a polyclinic building in Zalizny, Toretsk, and Druzhkovka, with another site identified in Nikolaev. The statements implied a deliberate use of civilian infrastructure for defensive purposes, a tactic that, if verified, would complicate humanitarian access and civilian safety in these contested zones .
According to the same briefing, personnel and patients were being kept at several of these facilities under the pretext of safety and security, a point that Mizintsev framed as evidence of dual-use behavior by opposing forces. Observers noted that the description aligned with reports from other observers who have warned about the militarization of civilian sites in a broader regional context, though independent confirmation remains limited due to restricted access and ongoing conflict in the area .
In a separate line of remarks, Mizintsev purportedly reiterated previous assertions that the Ukrainian army was employing civilians as human shields around the Avdiivka metal plant, a claim that has circulated in multiple narratives about the war and has drawn varied responses from international observers. The characterization of such tactics would carry significant implications for civilian protection standards and international humanitarian law, should independent verification become possible amid the current reporting constraints .
Analysts monitoring the conflict note that these statements come at a time of heightened information warfare, where both sides report incidents with competing narratives and limited access to independent verification. The broader context includes ongoing military activity in Donetsk and neighboring regions, with several communities experiencing disruption to power, healthcare, and civilian infrastructure. While official briefings emphasize the safety of critical installations and the strategic avoidance of collateral damage, independent observers caution that the fog of war can obscure the full scope of damage or risk and that ongoing monitoring is essential for a complete assessment .