MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The Kiev regime violated the nuclear safety and security of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) by conducting another drone attack on the city of Energodar, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"On November 2, when IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency - TASS) experts were conducting a routine rotation, Ukraine once again violated the ceasefire by carrying out a major drone attack on the city of Energodar, located in the vicinity of the Zaporozhye NPP, which is where the facility’s workers live with their families. Two drones hit the Energodar hotel," the diplomat pointed out. "Kiev continues to play with fire, staging criminal and irresponsible provocations and blatantly violating the so-called five principles of ensuring the ZNPP’s nuclear safety and security, proclaimed by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi," Zakharova said.
"We call on the agency’s leadership to accept the proposal that Moscow put forward a while back to use only Russian territory to conduct expert rotations, without endangering the lives and health of Russian nationals, including those who ensure the safety of IAEA specialists," the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added.
Renat Karchaa, advisor to the CEO of Russia’s state nuclear power corporation Rosenergoatom, told TASS earlier that Ukraine disregarded international law and the IAEA’s opinion by carrying out attacks on Energodar.
The city has repeatedly come under Ukrainian drone attacks in the past few months. In particular, Russian forces intercepted a Ukrainian drone flying towards the nuclear power plant on August 9. The Ukrainian armed forces struck an apartment building on August 23. A drone attack damaged a transformer at a water intake substation on October 10, leaving Energodar without water for several hours.
The six-reactor, six-gigawatt Zaporozhye NPP, located in Energodar, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russian forces took control of the facility in late February 2022.