The head of the Nikopol regional military administration, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, claims that tires were set on fire at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.

“Perhaps this is a provocation or an attempt to create panic in the settlements on the right bank of the former reservoir,” Yevtushenko suggests.

He claims that the Zaporizhzhya NPP is operating normally and the radiation levels are normal.

The Russian side did not comment on this information.

https://t.me/astrapress/61775

Cooling systems facility on fire at Zaporizhzhya NPP, - "governor" of Zaporizhzhya region

The "governor" of the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, stated on his Telegram channel that the fire at the Zaporizhia NPP cooling systems facility started due to "shelling of the city of Energodar by the Ukrainian Armed Forces."

"Currently, all 6 power units of the station are in cold shutdown, there is no threat of a steam explosion or other consequences. The radiation background around the NPP and the city of Energodar is normal," Balitsky wrote.

https://t.me/astrapress/61779

"A Stupid Provocation" - Military Analyst Yan Matveyev on the Smoke at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant

"This is a cooling tower. It cools the water when the station is operating. There is nothing to burn there. There is nothing to burn there. It looks like Russian soldiers put something there and set it on fire. Judging by the smoke, these are tires," he wrote.

Meanwhile, the IAEA reported that the organization's experts "witnessed heavy dark smoke rising from the northern part of the Zaporizhzhya NPP after multiple explosions were heard in the evening."

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[–] tal@lemmy.today 2 points 3 months ago

Military logistics churns through tons of tyres, I don't think getting at a sufficient number would be an issue.

That's an interesting point. I remember a while back when Russia was putting tires on aircraft at airbases.

https://www.twz.com/russia-really-is-using-tires-to-protect-its-bombers-from-attack

A covering of tires could well be calculated to break up the infrared signature of these aircraft, to confuse cruise missiles using image matching for targeting. This technique is also frequently referred to as DSMAC (Digital Scene Matching Area Correlator) or ATR (Automated Target Recognition) when used in cruise missiles.

I remember thinking "okay, tires probably do block infrared, but still, seems like an odd item to use. It's got s hole in the middle and is kind of heavy".

But I didn't think about the fact that the Russian military probably does generate a ton of worn-out tires, so it's probably ready-to-hand.