The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned of increased military activity near Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, including the Chornobyl site and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
The warning was issued in an IAEA statement, Ukrinform reports.
The agency noted that military activity had been reported by IAEA teams stationed at three Ukrainian-controlled nuclear power plants – Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, and South Ukraine – as well as at the Chornobyl site.
According to IAEA specialists, more than 100 drones were detected within observation zones around the facilities over the past two weeks, some of them as close as two kilometers from the sites. In particular, the IAEA team at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant was forced to shelter on the morning of June 3, while the agency’s team at the Chornobyl site heard gunfire multiple times in response to the detection of drones.
Over the same two-week period, the IAEA team at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was informed of ongoing military activity near the facility, including a drone strike on the turbine hall of Unit 6 on May 30. During inspections conducted in the following days, IAEA experts identified a hole in a wall and localized damage to the metal cladding of an empty pipe located several meters away. Plant officials said they plan to patch the hole while specialists continue assessing the affected area.
