Ukrainian forces’ strike on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant can be characterized as an act of nuclear terrorism on the part of Ukraine’s authorities, Russian state corporation Rosatom said on Sunday.
It was established that the facility was attacked by a Ukrainian kamikaze drone, the plant's spokesperson, Yevgeniya Yashina, told Sputnik.
"In essence, this attack is one of the elements of disabling the station. This is an unprecedented threat to nuclear safety, since the nuclear power plant has suffered such serious damage for the first time. The physical integrity of the nuclear power plant has been breached, thereby breaching the basic principles of the IAEA," Yashina said.
She added that it breached the plant’s physical integrity, creating an unprecedented threat to nuclear safety, and thereby violating the basic principles of the IAEA.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the strike by Ukrainian forces with the rhetorical question: “Where is Rafael Grossi and the entire IAEA? Where is at least some semblance of work from this UN entity responsible for this critical area? The terrorists in Kiev, under the leadership of the collective West, destroyed their country, ruined the people of Ukraine, undermined world energy and food security, and now they have taken up nuclear terror on the continent.”
What is known about the attack?
Ukrainian forces carried out two direct strikes on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant using attack drones on August 11, at 17:20 and 17:32 GMT, Russia’s Rosatom state corporation reported.
One of the two cooling towers at the facility was directly struck by UAVs drones, resulting in a fire that burned through its internal structure.
The tower, which is part of equipment meant to cool water during the plant’s normal operation, was “seriously damaged” in the attack. The threat of the structure’s collapse will be assessed by experts when the situation allows.
The governor of Russia's Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Balitsky, later stated that there is no danger to the town of Energodar or the region from the fire at the plant following the attack, and there is no threat to the plant itself.
IAEA experts received information from the nuclear plant about a suspected UAV attack, the agency said. It noted in a statement that its experts witnessed heavy smoke coming from the northern area of plant in the evening.