Russia claims Ukraine attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear facility

Russia’s nuclear power corporation, Rosatom, accused the Ukrainian military on Sunday of launching an unprecedented series of attacks on the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and said three staff members were hurt, one seriously.

In a statement on its website, Rosatom said radiation levels at the plant, Europe’s largest facility with six reactors, were normal and there was no serious damage.

Russian troops seized the plant in the first weeks of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side has since accused the other of attacking the plant and surrounding areas and risking a nuclear disaster.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine to the latest Russian allegations. Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield accounts from either side.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts at the site, said it had been informed by the Russian-run plant that a drone had detonated at the site and the information was consistent with IAEA observations.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said both sides should refrain from actions that “jeopardise nuclear safety”.

The plant remains close to the front lines of the 25-month-old conflict, and Grossi has repeatedly warned of grave concerns due to repeated incidents.

The Rosatom statement said the first strike on the plant hit an area near a canteen, injuring the three staff members, but did not indicate what weapon had been involved.

Within half an hour, it said, a drone had attacked a cargo loading area and another drone subsequently struck the dome of the sixth reactor.

The statement said Rosatom “categorically denounces the unprecedented attack on sites at the nuclear power station and its infrastructure”. It called on Grossi and European Union governments to immediately react to the threat to safety.

The nuclear plant has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235, and also has spent nuclear fuel at the facility.

Reactors 1, 2, 5 and 6 are in cold shutdown, while Reactor No. 3 is shut down for repair and Reactor No. 4 is in so-called hot shutdown, according to the plant.

Elsewhere, Ukraine drones attacked the Russian border region of Belgorod in several waves on Sunday.

In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that four more people, including two children, had been wounded after air defences downed four Ukrainian drones on the approach to Belgorod city.

Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has come under regular attack from Kyiv’s forces since 2022, with 25 people killed in a single missile strike on Belgorod city in December.