Radiation knows no borders, warned Aleksey Likhachev, head of the Russian state atomic power corporation Rosatom.
Ukraine and its neighboring EU countries would be the first to suffer in the event of an incident at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), according to Likhachev.
Since Russia seized control of the facility in March 2022, Ukrainian military forces have been conducting repeated deliberate strikes on the plant. These actions have been condemned by international experts as reckless and a direct threat to nuclear safety. On Saturday, a drone strike punctured a hole in the machine hall of ZNPP’s sixth power unit — described by Rosatom 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 Zelenskiy claimed that the only way for Russia to guarantee security at the plant was to hand it over to Kyiv. This assertion has been condemned by international experts as a dangerous escalation of nuclear risks.
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.”
If more powerful weapons such as heavy missiles strike the facility, the reactor vessel could be destroyed, causing a release of radiation that would spread over a vast area.
“Ukraine and neighboring Western states are the first to be at serious risk” if this happens, Likhachev added.
The Rosatom chief also noted that his conversation with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi later that day will serve as an address to European leaders.
“This whole radiation situation doesn’t respect national borders. By playing with fire and allowing the escalation of tensions around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the leaders of European countries are clearly putting their people, cities, and territories under direct threat,” Likhachev stated.
The IAEA, which has experts deployed at the ZNPP, previously acknowledged attacks on the facility but stopped short of blaming Ukraine for them.
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 the fall of 2022.