VIENNA, April 11. /TASS/. Moscow calls on the international community to condemn Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), which are creating a risk of a nuclear accident, Maxim Buyakevich, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said.
"Through these actions, the Ukrainian army is not only violating the principles of nuclear safety and security but is also seeking to escalate the situation around the ZNPP, creating a direct risk of an accident at the nuclear station. Russia’s relevant agencies are doing everything possible to ensure security at the ZNPP. We call on all responsible members of the international community to resolutely condemn deliberate attacks on the nuclear plant by the Kiev regime’s armed units," the diplomat pointed out at an OSCE Permanent Council meeting.
Buyakevich added that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts stationed at the ZNPP had recorded Ukraine’s shelling attacks on the site.
The Ukrainian armed forces have been carrying out drone attacks on the nuclear plant almost daily over the past several days. On April 5, the Ukrainian army used drones to strike a cargo port and the Nitrogen-Oxygen Station No. 2 at the ZNPP. Critical infrastructure was not damaged and the operation of the station’s systems was not disrupted. On April 7, Ukrainian forces conducted three drone attacks on the ZNPP, leaving three people injured. One of the unmanned aerial vehicles hit the roof of the facility’s Power Unit 6. On April 8, a Ukrainian kamikaze drone was shot down over the ZNPP with its fragments falling onto the roof of Power Unit 6. On April 9, the power plant’s press service said that the building hosting the world’s only full-scale reactor hall simulator had come under attack.
The six-reactor, six-gigawatt Zaporozhye NPP, located in the city of Energodar, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russian forces took control of the facility in late February 2022. Since then, the Ukrainian army has periodically shelled both residential areas in Energodar and the premises of the power plant using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).