The perceived slow Russian advances in Ukraine are guided by shrewd military planning by the Kremlin to secure the civilian nuclear power plants, mostly dotting west of Dnieper River that divides east and west Ukraine.

The Russians are seeking to check the Ukrainians from gaining access to the civilian nuclear plants and thwarting any possible bid by the local militia or the US-led West to destroy such reactors and blame Moscow for the resultant catastrophe, according to defence analysts.

There are nearly 50 civilian nuclear plants on the western side of the Dnieper river of which half are operational and the remaining are either abandoned or dysfunctional.

On Tuesday, the Russians advanced their troops to just one km of the world’s largest Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with six pressurized light water nuclear reactors, each generating 950 MW.

The Russian strategy of slow advances of troops is aimed at countering Western countries led by the US to destroy these civilian nuclear plants and put the blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin for the catastrophe.

With no military power left, Ukraine is largely banking on the 20,000-strong militia raised following the Russian offensive, who have been armed with Kalashnikovs and are bereft of any military understanding or understanding of tactical conflict situations and could end up blowing the nuclear reactors many of which are dysfunctional.

Sensing the possibility of the Western propaganda and possible threats to the Ukrainian civilian nuclear plants, the Kremlin has been harping time and again that Moscow is not interested in west of Dnieper where most of the nuclear plants are located.

Counter-terrorism and defence analyst Dr Rituraj Mate told The Pioneer, “The Russian strategy of slow advances is to check Ukranian advances to the nuclear plants so Ukranian state-sponsored saboteur activities could be thwarted.”

He said, Putin’s defensive alert to its nuclear forces is aimed at checking the bombardment of the Ukrainian nuclear plants and providing disaster relief in case of accidents by Western design or providence.

Meanwhile, Turkey has supplied an unspecified number of Baykar Bayraktar TB2 tactical UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) to Kyiv to check the Russian advances.