The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Tuesday that its team at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine detected nearby shelling and witnessed black smoke rising from three surrounding areas.
The team from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog was informed that multiple artillery shells struck an area outside the plant’s perimeter, around 400 m (437 yards) from its off-site diesel fuel storage facility, the IAEA said in a statement.
“While there were no reports of casualties or equipment damage, the incident once again underlined the constant dangers to nuclear safety and security,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.
There were no statements on the incident from either Russian or Ukrainian officials.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, in the first weeks after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Each side routinely accuses the other of undertaking actions that endanger nuclear safety at the plant.
Incidents of shelling occur frequently. The plant’s reactors are shut down, but the nuclear fuel inside them still needs to be cooled.
Last week, a Moscow-appointed governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said a Ukrainian drone detonated in the air by the plant. Staff had earlier reported two attacks over the previous week on a training centre near the plant’s reactors.
The IAEA, which urges both sides to avoid actions posing a threat to the facility, has monitors stationed permanently at the Zaporizhzhia plant and at Ukraine’s three other nuclear plants.
Russia Strikes Ukraine’s Kirovohrad
Officials said on Wednesday that an overnight Russian drone strike in Ukraine’s central Kirovohrad region disrupted railway services and partially knocked out power.
“As of now, the regional centre and 44 settlements in the Oleksandrivka territorial community have been partially cut off from the power supply,” Andriy Raykovych wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Some private homes were also damaged, and railway travel has been disrupted, he said. Emergency services reported battling fires at three locations and said there were no casualties.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said the Russian forces targeted railway infrastructure in the overnight attack, without specifying the location.
“Last night, the enemy launched a massive drone strike in an attempt to disable the substations that power the railway network,” he wrote on Telegram.
“Such strikes have a clear goal: to disrupt passenger and freight transport, disrupt the stable operation of transport, and put additional pressure on people and the economy.”
He said that the Ukrainian state railways Ukrzaliznytsia deployed over 20 reserve locomotives in the attack’s aftermath.
(With inputs from Reuters)
