The chief engineer at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been killed by a Ukrainian drone near the station, the head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.
Alexei Likhachev said on Wednesday in a statement that a Ukrainian drone had struck a service car between the plant’s site and the town of Enerhodar, killing the engineer, Alexander Yakovlev, and the driver.
Russian forces took control of the plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest, with six reactors, in the first weeks of Russia’s 2022 assault on Ukraine.
Each side has since regularly accused the other of military actions that endanger nuclear safety.
The city of Enerhodar, where most of the nuclear station’s staff live, has been a frequent target of attacks.
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‘Unacceptable attack’
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, condemned the incident, while making no specific mention of Ukraine or Russia.
