IAEA confirms a drone strike on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, with radiation levels remaining normal and no core damage reported.
VIENNA: A drone hit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, the UN nuclear agency confirmed Sunday.
“The IAEA team at the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant) observed damage to the exterior of a turbine building which the plant said was hit by a drone strike yesterday,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency posted on social media.
“The team’s observations are consistent with the impact of a drone,” it added, noting that “radiation levels at the site remain normal”.
The plant lies close to the frontline in southern Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear catastrophe with attacks.
Moscow’s troops captured the plant — Europe’s largest — in the first days of their 2022 invasion.
IAEA inspectors on Saturday had to shelter after hearing the sound of drones nearby and repelling gunfire, the agency said, adding that it had requested access to the inside of the building.
Russian media earlier carried a statement from state-owned nuclear power firm Rosatom accusing Ukraine of a deliberate attack — a claim strongly denied by Kyiv.
“There should be no attack of any kind from or against the plant,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi was quoted as saying in an X post by the agency late on Saturday.
“Attacking nuclear sites is like playing with fire.”
Rosatom alleged the drone was controlled via a fibre-optic cable, which ruled out “the possibility of an accidental strike”.
“Today, we have come one step closer to an incident that is highly likely to affect even those who live far beyond the borders of Russia and Ukraine,” Rosatom CEO Alexei Likachev told Russian media.
Rejecting the accusations, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement that they defied “logic”.
“It is unclear why Ukraine would strike its own nuclear power plant located on its own territory, which it itself seeks to regain under its sovereign control,” the ministry said.
“We consider these statements as yet another information operation by the occupying state.”
The strike blew a hole in the wall of the machine room but did not damage core equipment, Rosatom said.
The Russian-installed management of the plant later said that Kyiv had targeted the plant’s transport hub on Sunday, where vehicles transporting employees are stored.
Six buses and two mini buses were “destroyed” as a result of the drone attack, it said on social media, adding that no staff members were hurt and that the plant was operating normally.
Authorities in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia in April accused Ukraine of carrying out a strike which they said killed a transport worker.