SIMFEROPOL, April 28. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should conduct an investigation and raise the issue of sanctions against Ukraine with the UN over the death of an employee of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) during Ukraine’s attack on the facility, Renat Karchaa, advisor to the head of the Republic of Crimea and member of the Legislative Assembly of the Zaporozhye Region, told TASS.

"Nuclear energy and everything related to it are subject to international regulation. This is precisely why the IAEA exists, whose core competencies include monitoring the handling of fissile materials and ensuring nuclear safety standards. The killing of a Zaporozhye NPP employee is a gross violation of one of the pillars of nuclear safety. Accordingly, this institution should be the initiator of action. One possible response could be an urgent meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, which is obligated to promptly conduct its own impartial investigation, identify the culprit, formulate an objective assessment, and submit to the UN the question of convening a special Security Council meeting to hold the Kiev regime accountable. This could include imposing sanctions against Ukraine as a country that is openly engaging in nuclear terrorism at the state-level," the expert said.

Karchaa added that in this case, retaliatory action is necessary, otherwise impunity for the actions of the Kiev authorities could lead to grave consequences.

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 anniversary of the Chernobyl NPP disaster as an attack on a key pillar of nuclear safety. The man has become the first employee killed by a Ukrainian armed forces’ strike since the nuclear power plant’s inception, she noted.