Drone strikes near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) have raised serious concerns among experts, with a real threat of a large-scale nuclear accident that could affect Russia, Ukraine, and Europe, according to infohub.kz.
Alexey Likhachev, CEO of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said that earlier in the day, chief engineer Alexander Yakovlev of the Zaporizhzhia NPP was killed in a deliberate terrorist act. According to Likhachev, the car carrying the engineer was struck by a drone. He added that such attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been enabled by Western 'encouragement'.
"The price of this connivance: human lives – 13 killed and 48 wounded in the last two and a half months – and a real threat of a massive nuclear incident across vast territories of Russia, Ukraine and Europe. The global community must understand this. And, of course, we expect a prompt, concrete and clear reaction from the IAEA to this tragedy," said the Rosatom chief.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) condemned the attacks on and near nuclear facilities and their personnel. "The IAEA calls for an immediate halt to all attacks on or near nuclear facilities and their personnel," the agency said in a statement.
Earlier, it was reported that one of Russia's largest petrochemical complexes, Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, halted operations after a drone attack on July 14, damaging key oil refining units.