Kremlin accuses Ukraine of ‘playing with fire’ after reported attack near Kursk nuclear plant

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Friday accused Ukrainian authorities of playing with fire, a day after Russian forces said they had intercepted a Ukrainian drone near the Kursk nuclear plant and some news outlets reported a fire had broken out several miles away.

“Kyiv is continuing to play with fire, and we will naturally bring this to the attention of the IAEA’s representatives,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi on Thursday denied that Ukraine had fired weapons at or near the plant.

Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region in a surprise cross-border incursion on Aug. 6 and remain there even as the Russian military tries to eject them.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Andrew Osborn)