At least three people have been killed and nine injured during hours of Russian missile and drone strikes on the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, local officials have claimed, after the area’s nuclear power plant was hit directly three times, sparking fears of a “major nuclear disaster”.
Local governor Ivan Federov reported that six people had been injured this afternoon in an attack on an unnamed industrial facility, while another three had been killed, and three more injured, in an earlier attack in the Pologiviskyi district.
It comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) described the attack on the power plant, some 100 miles west of Pologivskyi, as “reckless” after an explosion was seen near the reactor building and a hit on the dome of the plant’s sixth power unit was reported. This is the first such attack on Zaporizhzhia power plant since November 2022 in military action.
“This is a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must cease immediately,” IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
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