Pellegrini: Slovakia must be prepared for nuclear incident in Ukraine

President Peter Pellegrini told Slovak journalists at the UN on Wednesday that Slovak authorities should increase their readiness to face a possible nuclear incident in Ukraine, according to the TASR Slovak news agency.

Pellegrini was responding to a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who warned of a potential nuclear disaster in Ukraine and accused Russia of planning attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power plants during a debate at the UN General Assembly.

“The authorities of the Slovak Republic should now increase their readiness and be prepared to measure radiation levels at Slovakia’s border with Ukraine regularly,” Pellegrini said. He warned that a possible Russian attack on Ukraine’s nuclear power plants could result in a tragedy similar to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, with radioactive fallout affecting neighboring countries.

He added that Slovakia must be prepared to take independent measures. Given Slovakia’s nuclear facilities, the country has the expertise and technology to monitor radiation levels without relying on external information, which Pellegrini said could be "camouflaged" by other nations.

“As an international community, we must influence Russia to the maximum extent to refrain from such dangerous behavior,” Pellegrini said while attending the UN General Assembly in New York.

During the invasion, Zelensky noted that Russia had destroyed Ukraine’s thermal power plants and much of its hydroelectric capacity. He also reported receiving further “alarming” intelligence about Russian plans.

“It seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power plants and their infrastructure to disconnect them from the grid," Zelensky said without providing further details. He stressed that the international community must prevent this from happening, warning that a nuclear disaster would have devastating effects beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Russia has yet to respond to the debate. President Putin is not attending the UN General Assembly, but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to speak on Russia’s behalf on Saturday.