US sees no Russian preparations to "leave" Zaporozhye NPP, the facility should be run by the Ukrainian side — White House

The United States sees no signs of Russia preparing to withdraw its forces from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP), White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby has told NBC.

"We are watching this really closely. We can’t say definitively that we’ve seen any wholesale move by the Russians to leave the nuclear power plant," he said. "Obviously, we have been calling for that since they first took it over. It [the station] should not be militarized."

The official reiterated the US administration’s opinion that the facility should be run by the Ukrainian side.

He added that the NPP "obviously should not become a military target," but stopped short of commenting on who was shelling it.

"We would very much welcome the removal of Russian troops from the power plant. But we cannot say definitively that we’ve seen it actually happen right now," the White House official said.

The Russian defense ministry said earlier that after a two-month pause Ukrainian troops had resumed shelling attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. At least 25 shells were fired at the plant on November 19-20 alone. One of the shells hit the roof of special building No2, which holds nuclear fuels.

Russia took control of the Zaporozhye NPP, the biggest operating nuclear plant in Europe, on February 28.