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Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint after three separate drone incidents struck the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine over two days this week, injuring two plant employees, the IAEA said.
The IAEA said it had been informed of three separate drone incidents at the plant site earlier in the week, which it said underscored the constant dangers to nuclear safety posed by the ongoing military conflict.
On 25 August, a drone reportedly struck near the plant's cooling pond, injuring two employees.
The following day, a second drone detonated at the site of the facility's dry spent nuclear fuel storage, while a third drone hit the sprinkling device connected to the plant's power units system.
Despite the successive strikes, the IAEA said radiation levels at the site have remained normal. The agency did not attribute responsibility for the drone incidents in its statement.
Separately, a statement from the Russian-controlled plant said the 25 August drone attack targeted an area containing the facility's hydro-technical structures and was carried out by Ukraine's military, injuring two workers.
Grossi said any attack on nuclear power plant sites is "unacceptable" and renewed his call for maximum military restraint from all sides to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.
The IAEA has repeatedly stressed the need to protect nuclear facilities from military activity throughout the conflict.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is Europe's largest nuclear facility. Russian forces seized control of the plant in March 2022, shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, and it has remained under Russian control since.
The plant has been the site of repeated security concerns throughout the conflict, with both Russia and Ukraine previously accusing each other of endangering its safety.
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