June 5 (Reuters) – Russia’s nuclear energy corporation Rosatom said on Friday that a Ukrainian drone had deliberately struck engineers demining an area around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, injuring at least three people.
Rosatom said the incident occurred at the start of a ceasefire around the plant, brokered by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to restore the main external power line to the plant.
“The strike was clearly calculated,” Rosatom head Alexei Likachev said in comments posted on social media. “Three of our engineers were injured. Two are in serious condition.”
“The international community must know of the continuing attempts to inflict maximum damage on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, on the personnel responsible for ensuring its safety…despite the agreements that have been reached.”
In a separate statement, Rosatom said five people were hurt.
The IAEA said it had been informed of the incident by the plant’s Russia-installed management, and its Director General, Rafael Grossi, writing on X, called for maximum military restraint and full adherence to the ceasefire.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian troops in the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Each side has since accused the other of undertaking military actions to compromise nuclear safety.
The plant’s Russian-installed management accused Ukraine on Thursday of deploying more than 20 drones to attack a nearby thermal plant vital to supplying the facility with external power.
The plant generates no electricity, but needs external power to ensure that nuclear fuel at the site does not overheat.
The latest ceasefire was the sixth negotiated since late last year to carry out repairs to the power lines.
In its statement, the IAEA said the plant’s second external power line was also down following attacks on two electrical substations located on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from the nuclear plant.
The facility was relying on diesel generators as it did for a month last year in similar circumstances.
(Reporting by Linda Pasquini, editing by Himani Sarkar, Thomas Seythal, Ron Popesk and Sanjeev Miglani)
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