On Sunday, the nuclear power plant became the target of drone attacks. There were “three direct hits” against the protective shell of the sixth reactor, said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on X (formerly Twitter).
According to the IAEA, nuclear safety was not at risk, but this was “a serious incident that had the potential to violate the integrity of the reactor protective envelope.” According to Grossi, the direct hits on Europe’s largest nuclear facility, Zaporizhia, were the first since November 2022. “This must not happen,” he wrote. Nobody can derive military or political benefit from attacks on nuclear facilities.
The Russian power plant management had informed the IAEA about the explosions above the dome of the sixth reactor. But there is no dangerous damage. The radiation in and around the nuclear power plant corresponds to the norm.
Mutual blame
It initially remained unclear who was behind the attacks. Both Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the drone attacks. Ukraine denied it in sharp tones: It was not involved in the “military provocations” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, said the spokesman for the GUR military intelligence service in Kiev, Andriy Yusov. Such fake attacks, on the other hand, are common practice among the Russian occupiers. The allegations are part of a “campaign of provocations and misinformation” against Ukraine, emphasized Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation. Kovalenko also accused Moscow of “manipulating the IAEA’s concerns” and “trying to accuse Ukraine of nuclear terrorism.”
Zelenskyj calls for anti-aircraft systems
In view of the ongoing Russian air strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urgently called on foreign allies to provide additional anti-aircraft systems. “It is quite obvious that the air defense capabilities we have in Ukraine are not enough – and this is clear to all our partners,” Zelensky said. In the direction of the USA, he became even clearer: without support from the Americans, it would be difficult for his country to survive the war.
