Russia claims the Ukrainian military attacked facilities at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overnight Monday into Tuesday, according to Reuters. The plant is located in eastern Ukraine and has been under Russian control since the early weeks of the war.
The attack was carried out by drones and targeted a laboratory and a radioactive waste processing facility.
1+Alexei Likhachev, head of the state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, said one person was killed but stressed there is no radiation threat from the site. Plant management also reported in recent days that Ukrainian shelling over the past weeks damaged power supply equipment at the facility—equipment used in part to keep nuclear fuel cool. The plant is now running on emergency backup generators.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the attacks on the nuclear plant are made possible by the lack of response from Western countries, adding that such an approach “demonstrates the true value of the statements by representatives of these countries regarding nuclear safety and security at various international forums.” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry did not comment on the incident.
1+Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia plant—Europe’s largest, containing six active nuclear reactors—in the opening weeks of the war in February 2022. Throughout the war, Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of military actions that threaten nuclear safety. The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has been working to secure a ceasefire around the plant to allow repairs and prevent a nuclear leak.