One drone hit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, occupied by Russiaconfirmed this Sunday (31) the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The IAEA team at the plant “observed damage to the exterior of a turbine building which, according to the facility itself, was hit by a drone attack yesterday,” the organization reported.
“The team’s observations are compatible with the impact of a drone”, added the institution, highlighting that “radiation levels at the site remain normal“IAEA inspectors had to take shelter on Saturday after hearing the sound of nearby drones and gunfire, the agency said.
On network X, the agency’s general director, Argentinian Rafael Grossi, declared on Saturday that “attacking nuclear facilities is like playing with fire“. “There must not be any type of attack from or against the plant,” Grossi added.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the damage caused by the drone is “ten meters from the reactor room“.Located close to the front line in southern Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused themselves of putting nuclear catastrophe at risk with its attacks since the plant came under the control of Russian forces. “We gave another step towards an incident that, with great probabilitywill affect even those who live very far from the borders of Russia and Ukraine”, Rosatom’s general director, Alexey Likhachev, told the Russian press.
Rosatom stated that the drone was controlled using a fiber optic cable, which would rule out “the possibility of an accidental impact”. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations and said in a statement that they lacked “logic”.
“It is unclear why Ukraine would attack its own nuclear power plant situated on its own territory, which it itself seeks to bring back under its sovereign control,” the ministry said.
As Russian troops captured the plant in the first days of the invasion from Ukrainian territory, in 2022. This Sunday, authorities at the nuclear plant reported a new Ukrainian attack that hit the facility’s transportation workshopa location that has been targeted on several occasions in recent months.
