BRUSSELS — Safety at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is deteriorating, the International Atomic Energy Agency warned following a drone strike near the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
The drone struck about 100 meters from the Dniprovska power line — the only remaining 750-kilovolt line providing a power supply to the plant, the IAEA said in a statement Saturday.
“Yet again we see an escalation of the nuclear safety,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in the statement. “I remain extremely concerned and reiterate my call for maximum restraint from all sides and for strict observance of the five concrete principles established for the protection of the plant.”
Russia gained control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant shortly after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. There is widespread concern about the safety of the plant, which is located on the southern bank of the Dnipro River about 50 kilometers southwest of the city of Zaporizhzhia.
