A drone has struck a laboratory at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, prompting renewed concern over nuclear safety at Europe’s largest atomic facility, the UN nuclear watchdog has said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been informed that the plant’s External Radiation Control Laboratory was targeted in the incident. No injuries have been reported, but the extent of the damage remains under assessment.
The development marks the latest in a series of incidents affecting the site, which has remained close to the front line since Russian forces seized control of the facility in March 2022 following the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, the plant has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire of the conflict, with both Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of endangering nuclear safety through strikes in the surrounding area.
The IAEA, which has maintained a monitoring presence at the site throughout the war, said it had been notified of the latest strike and was seeking further clarification on the circumstances.
Its director general, Rafael Grossi, warned that any attack in or around the facility poses a serious risk to nuclear safety.
“Any attack on or near a nuclear power plant carries potential nuclear safety risks,” he has previously said, amid repeated appeals for military restraint around the site.
The IAEA said: “IAEA has been informed by the ZNPP that a drone targeted its External Radiation Control Laboratory (ECRL) today.
“There were no reported injuries and it is not yet known if the strike damaged the lab, which is located outside the ZNPP perimeter. IAEA team at the site has requested access to the lab, Director General @rafaelmgrossi says, reiterating that any attacks near nuclear sites can pose nuclear safety risks.”
The Zaporizhzhia plant, located on the Dnipro River, is one of the largest nuclear facilities in Europe and has six reactors, all of which are currently shut down but still require constant cooling and external power to maintain safety systems.
Concerns over the plant’s vulnerability have persisted throughout the war, with intermittent shelling, drone activity and reported outages raising fears of a potential nuclear incident, although no radiation leaks have been confirmed.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have regularly accused each other of risking catastrophe at the site, which sits in a strategically sensitive area of southern Ukraine.
The latest drone strike is expected to intensify calls for stricter protections around nuclear infrastructure, with the IAEA continuing to press for the establishment of a demilitarised safety zone around the facility.
Officials have not attributed responsibility for the incident, and investigations into the damage are ongoing.
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