The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that drone strikes that hit the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has raised the risk of a “major nuclear accident.”
For the first time since November 2022, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was directly targeted Sunday.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said it represents a clear violation of the five basic principles for protecting the facility established by him at the United Nations Security Council in May last year.
“This is a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must cease immediately,” Grossi said in a statement.
He said there are no indications of damage to critical nuclear safety or security systems at the site.
The UN’s atomic watchdog has appealed to “military decision makers to abstain from any action violating the basic principles that protect nuclear facilities.”
Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack, but Ukraine denied it.
Russia seized control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine within days of launching their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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