An employee has been killed in a drone attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant carried out by Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation has said
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has issued an urgent warning after a deadly attack at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.
Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation said a driver was killed by a drone strike in an operation carried out by Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Rosatom corporation said an employee at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant had been killed in the strike this morning.
The Russian agency said the strike was a “great tragedy” and added that attacks on the nuclear plant “pose a threat not only to people but also to security as a whole”.
Meanwhile the IAEA’s Director General said in a statement today that strikes on or near nuclear power plants (NPPs) can endanger nuclear safety and “must not take place”.
The IAEA statement said: “IAEA has been informed by the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant that a drone strike this morning killed a driver at its transport workshop in the vicinity of the plant site.
“Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi reiterates that strikes on or near NPPs can endanger nuclear safety and must not take place. The IAEA’s team on the site will look into the incident and continue to monitor the situation.”
In a separate statement Russian agency Rosatom, which has controlled the plant since it was captured by Russian forces, said: “A Zaporizhzhia NPP employee has been killed in a strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces
“Today, a driver was killed as a result of a strike by a Ukrainian Armed Forces drone on the premises of the transport workshop at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.”
The plant bosses called the man’s death “a terrible and irreplaceable loss,” adding that “employees of the nuclear industry must not be targeted.” They continued: “Any attacks on the Zaporizhzhia NPP pose a threat not only to people but also to security as a whole. It is a blow to life and to the future.”
On March 4 2022 Russian troops seized Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
In a speech yesterday to mark the the 40th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, the country’s Ambassador to the UN Andrii Melnyk called for Russian forces to “finally get the hell out of the occupiedZaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant”.
Mr Melnyk said the Zaporizhzhia plant “remains under occupation to this very day as a hostage, terrorizing not only Ukraine but the entire international community.”
Calling for sanctions against Russia’s nuclear energy industry he added: “This nuclear blackmail, this nuclear nightmare must end. Russia has to return the plant to Ukraine immediately and unconditionally and ensure its safety in accordance with IAEA standards.”
