Worker killed at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after Ukraine drone strike, says Russia | World News

A worker at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power ​station has been killed in a ​Ukrainian drone attack, according to Russian ​forces, which control the plant.

In a message on Telegram, the Russian-installed management wrote: “A driver ‌was killed today when a Ukrainian Armed ⁠Forces drone struck ​the transport department ​at ​the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power ⁠Plant [ZNPP].”

There has been no response yet from Ukraine about the claim, but the global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) posted on X that its “team on the site will look into the incident”, adding that such strikes “can endanger nuclear safety”.

Russian forces have occupied the site since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The nuclear power plant, which is Europe’s largest, is one of four in Ukraine, alongside Chernobyl, which this weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Kyiv says Moscow has repeatedly sent missiles and drones on a flight path near the plant to attack Ukrainian cities, even damaging a critical protective shield in an attack last year.

Marking the anniversary on Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a message on X, claiming that Russian forces had turned the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “into an instrument of their war”.

“They launch attacks from there against our cities and villages, store weapons, ammunition, and military equipment at the plant, mined its perimeter, and are effectively holding our city of Enerhodar hostage,” he wrote.

He joined Moldova’s President Maia Sandu at a memorial ceremony at the site to honour those who lost their lives.

Separately, foreign officials, including the EU energy commissioner, commemorated the anniversary of Chernobyl in Ukraine’s capital and pledged fresh support for Ukraine’s power system, which is regularly targeted by Russian air strikes.

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On the same day, Ukraine’s national energy generating company, Energoatom, reported another outage of Ferroalloy-1 transmission line at the plant, the “fifteenth blackout at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since its occupation”.

“For an hour and a half, the plant was powered by 19 backup diesel generators… Each such incident significantly increases the risks to nuclear and radiation safety not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe,” it wrote in a message on Telegram.

Control of the Zaporizhzhia facility is one of the most contentious points in US-brokered peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow that have produced few results.