A drone hit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, the UN nuclear agency has said, citing local officials. Moscow’s troops captured the plant—Europe’s largest—in the first days of the war in 2022.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) posted on social media that the Russian-run plant’s operator informed it that a drone had hit the turbine building on Saturday, reportedly causing a hole in its wall but not damaging core equipment.
Russian media carried a statement from state-owned nuclear power firm Rosatom accusing Ukraine of a deliberate attack—a claim strongly denied by Kyiv.
The plant lies close to the frontline in southern Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear catastrophe with attacks.
“There should be no attack of any kind from or against the plant,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi was quoted as saying in the agency’s post on X late on Saturday. “Attacking nuclear sites is like playing with fire.”
Rosatom alleged the drone was controlled via a fiber-optic cable, which ruled out the possibility of an accidental strike.
Rejecting the accusations, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the arguments lacked logic. “It is unclear why Ukraine would strike its own nuclear power plant located on its own territory, which it itself seeks to regain under its sovereign control,” the ministry said.
The Russian-installed management of the plant later said that Kyiv on Sunday had targeted the plant’s transport hub, where vehicles transporting employees are stored.
Six buses and two minibuses were destroyed as a result of the drone attack, it said on social media, adding that no staff members were hurt and that the plant was operating normally.
