New Delhi, Mar 5 (IANS): The provocation at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant was carefully thought out by the authorities in Kiev, former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

In his opinion, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky planned to use the state of emergency in order to convince Western countries to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, RT reported.

"Of course, this is a deliberate provocation, because the first thing is that not a single sane military man from the Russian or Ukrainian army would ever dare to carry out such a provocation on the territory of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which has six nuclear units," Azarov said.

Even a "secondary fire" at a training centre "is still an emergency event" at such a "super-category nuclear facility", he added.

"Therefore, first, it is quite obvious that this is a deliberate provocation. Secondly, Zelensky's instant reaction – it happened at night, and his instant appeal to the Americans and Great Britain, presenting absolutely false information, in itself says that this is a prepared provocation. He was aware of the holding of which, because he used this provocation to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine," RT News quoted the former Prime Minister as saying.

On Friday, Russian troops captured the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, where a fire had erupted earlier in the day due to shelling.