A drone strike that hit Russia’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine three times on Sunday could lead to a “major” radiation incident, the UN nuclear watchdog said.
During the attack, one of the facility’s six reactors was hit, injuring three people.
Ukrainian spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate Andriy Yusov accused Russia of endangering not only the plant but also the civilian population and the environment by launching attacks on a nuclear facility.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) previously urged both Moscow and Kiev to refrain from attacking the Zaporizhizhia plant.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi deemed the strikes “reckless” and “a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant.”
A drone strike that hit Ukraine’s Zaporizhizhia nuclear power plant three times on Sunday could cause a “major” radiation incident, said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Russian forces took control of the factory in 2022, shortly after their large-scale invasion of Ukraine
“Attacking a nuclear power plant is an absolute no-go,” Grossi said.
“While the damage to Unit 6 did not compromise nuclear safety, this was a serious incident that had the potential to undermine the integrity of the reactor’s containment system.
“Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must be stopped immediately,” he added.
After the triple attack, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova urged world leaders to condemn the act of “nuclear terrorism.”
Zakharova asked how many more times Ukraine would compromise nuclear safety at the plant before Western leaders would take action.
The IAEA said its experts had confirmed three drone strikes and that Russian forces had deployed a drone approaching reactor No. 6.
The nuclear power plant features six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing uranium 235 and has also consumed nuclear fuel at the facility.
Reactors number 1, 2, 5 and 6 are currently in a cold shutdown, while reactor number 3 has been shut down for repairs and reactor number 4 is in a so-called “hot shutdown,” the plant said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has experts on the ground, said it was the first time the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, had been directly targeted since November 2022.
Russian forces took control of the factory in 2022, shortly after their large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The plant remains close to the front line and both Moscow and Kiev have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear accident by attacking the plant.
Russia pointed the finger at Ukraine regarding Sunday’s strikes.
Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said Ukraine attacked the plant three times with drones on Sunday, first wounding three people near a canteen, then attacking a cargo area and then the dome over reactor number 6.
“The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been subjected to an unprecedented series of drone attacks, posing a direct threat to the plant’s safety,” Rosatom said.
“Radiation levels at the plant and the surrounding area have not changed,” the report said.
A Ukrainian intelligence official said Kiev had nothing to do with any attacks on the station and suggested they were the work of the Russians themselves.
“Ukraine was not involved in armed provocations on the site,” Yusov told the news website Ukrainska Pravda.
He added that Russia is “illegally” occupying the factory.
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from the bank of the Kakhovka reservoir in Nikopol
Sunday’s drone strikes come after Russia fired five missiles into Zaporizhia on Friday, killing at least four people and wounding 20 others
“Russian attacks, including imitation attacks, on the territory of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant… have long been a known criminal practice of the invaders,” added Andriy Usov, spokesman for Ukraine’s main intelligence agency HUR.
In February, the IAEA said its team of experts at the plant had heard explosions every day for a week.
At the time, Mr Grossi said: “For more than two years, nuclear safety and security in Ukraine have been under constant threat.
“We remain committed to doing everything we can to help minimize the risk of a nuclear accident that could harm people and the environment, and not just in Ukraine.”
The drone strikes come after Russia fired five missiles into Zaporizhia on Friday, killing at least four people and wounding 20 others.
Firefighters work at a Russian airstrike site amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine on Sunday
Firefighters extinguish a fire at the scene of a rocket attack
Residential buildings and industrial facilities were damaged, the regional governor said.
The Zaporizhia Power Plant is located about 130 kilometers upstream of the Dnieper River from the Kakhovka Dam, which was heavily damaged by explosions on June 6, 2023.
Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, fears of a nuclear disaster have arisen repeatedly as the plant was shelled and temporarily disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid.
The city of Zaporizhia itself is less than 56 kilometers away and was home to 750,000 people before the war.
Three civilians were also killed on Sunday morning in a Russian attack on the frontline village of Guliaipole in the Zaporizhia region, the local governor said.
“Two men and a woman died under the rubble of their own home, which was hit by a Russian shell,” Ivan Fedorov said on the messaging app Telegram.
Ukrainian forces have destroyed all 17 attack drones launched by Russia, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday.
‘At night, the Russian occupiers attacked Ukraine again, using seventeen attack drones. The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces destroyed them all,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook.