MELITOPOL, March 14. /TASS/. The situation at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and in its satellite city of Energodar is calm after a Ukrainian drone attack, the ZNPP’s management told TASS.
ZNPP Director Yury Chernichuk reported earlier that the Ukrainian armed forces had shelled the plant’s critical infrastructure facilities. A shell-less explosive device was hurled from a battle drone five meters away from a fence behind which diesel fuel tanks are stored. The destruction of the fuel tanks and a fuel leak could lead to a decrease in the ZNPP’s emergency readiness.
"Everything is calm both at the plant and in the city. Tomorrow is a day off both at the plant and in the entire region," a senior ZNPP executive said, adding that there were no casualties or damage as a result of the attack.
The official also added that the ZNPP’s top management had asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inform the global watchdog’s board about the Ukrainian army's attack on the plant.
"Today we brought the experts to the site of the attack, they could see it with their own eyes; they took photographs of the site. And we asked the experts to inform the agency about this incident," the plant officials said.
Located in Energodar, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, with roughly 6GW of capacity, is the largest of its kind in Europe. Russia took control of the plant on February 28, 2022, in the first days of its special military operation in Ukraine. Since then, units of the Ukrainian army have periodically conducted shelling both of residential districts in nearby Energodar and the premises of the nuclear plant itself, by means of drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).