MELITOPOL, September 9. /TASS/. The Ukrainian troops’ activity in relation to the town of Energodar, where the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is located, is terrorist in nature, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the CEO of the Rosenergoatom concern, has told TASS.

The day before, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the agency's specialists at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant had heard explosions near the facility several times over the past week. The plant itself was not damaged. The agency's statement also noted that the IAEA team of experts had been notified that ZNPP had decided to temporarily minimize personnel at the facility over the next few days due to concerns about the growing risk of military operations.

"In fact, with regard to Energodar, this activity by Ukraine may be described as military, but it is purely terrorist," Karchaa said. "Terrorism has only one purpose: to intimidate, to suppress and to cause panic, fear, tension. This is exactly the kind of military activity the Ukrainian regime has been conducting."

He emphasized that the Ukrainian forces were aiming to hit homes and civilian infrastructure in Energodar.

"They are constantly hitting civilian facilities. For what purpose? Only for one purpose: these drone strikes do not achieve any military aims, but they do put pressure on the population in order to foment protest sentiment," Karchaa said. "This is being done, I remind you, in a nuclear industry center. And one of the pillars of nuclear safety is the people and their psychological condition. Even without striking directly at Zaporozhye NPP they still undermine nuclear safety in the most blatant way".

At the same time, as Karchaa noted, the Zaporozhye NPP was operating in a normal mode. The fourth power unit of the plant is in cold shutdown and the sixth power unit is working in a hot shutdown mode.

In August and early September, the Ukrainian military launched a number of attacks against Energodar.

Zaporozhye NPP

The Zaporozhye NPP, located in Energodar, consists of six reactors with an aggregate capacity of 6GW. It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. At the end of February 2022, the facility was put under control by Russian forces. Since then, Ukrainian army has been periodically shelling both residential areas of Energodar and the territory of the NPP, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers.

The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, speaking at an event at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs on August 28, said that the counter-offensive carried out by the Ukrainian armed forces on the frontline in Zaporozhye region increased the risk of damage to the nuclear power plant located there. The IAEA chief also recalled that he had earlier voiced several principles of ensuring the safety of the plant in the UN Security Council, in particular, the inadmissibility of attacks on or towards the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.