MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces by carrying out terrorist strikes on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) are bringing a new man-made disaster closer, literally committing a crime against all humanity, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Institute of Law and National Security at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), told TASS.

"It should be noted that a terrorist attack against a nuclear energy infrastructure facility was committed the day after a mournful date - the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. We see that the Kiev regime is rapidly bringing the situation closer to a man-made disaster with its terrorist activities. And this attack is unequivocally destructive in nature, namely, it is a crime against all humanity," the expert said. Stepanov noted that the lack of response from both Western countries and international organizations to such attacks has made it possible to create an extremely dangerous precedent of nuclear terrorism.

"This practice is already persistent and is becoming global. For example, Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant is also being shelled. This de facto legitimization of attacks on nuclear power plants requires an immediate response, including holding accountable representatives of the military-political leadership of countries who are personally responsible and make decisions regarding such sabotage," the expert added.

Earlier, the Zaporozhye NPP reported that one of the plant’s employees was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike. The nuclear plant’s spokesperson Yevgenia Yashina denounced the killing of the plant’s employee by the Kiev regime on the day of the anniversary of the Chernobyl NPP disaster as an attack on a key pillar of nuclear safety.

The nuclear power plant relies on its employees for safety, she said in an interview with TASS, calling this one of the key lessons from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Nuclear industry employees must never be targeted, while any attacks on nuclear infrastructure are "risks spanning beyond specific premises," Yashina emphasized. Any attacks on the ZNPP threaten not only people but broader security, she concluded.

As CEO of Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Alexey Likhachev said, the number of enemy strikes on the Zaporozhye NPP is increasing, and their goal is to sow panic and disorient the NPP personnel. In December 2025, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection (NBC) Troops Major General Alexey Rtishchev, noted at a briefing that a severe accident at the Zaporozhye NPP, in a worst-case scenario, would spread radioactive substances "for hundreds of kilometers.".