A worker has been killed in a drone strike at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, according to Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom. The incident has prompted an urgent warning from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which reiterated that attacks on or near nuclear facilities endanger safety and must not occur.
Rosatom said the employee, a driver, died on the premises of the plant's transport workshop after a strike by Ukrainian Armed Forces drones. The agency described the death as a "great tragedy" and stated that such attacks "pose a threat not only to people but to security as a whole."
The IAEA confirmed it had been informed by the plant's management about the strike. Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the IAEA team on site would investigate and continue monitoring the situation. He stressed that strikes on or near nuclear power plants can jeopardise nuclear safety.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear power station, has been under Russian control since March 2022. In a speech marking the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Ukraine's UN Ambassador Andrii Melnyk called for Russian forces to leave the plant immediately, accusing Moscow of "nuclear blackmail."
