Russia Requests Emergency IAEA Meeting Over Zaporozhye Attacks

Russia has requested an extraordinary session of the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over what it claims are Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) on Sunday.

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Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, said that the request has been made according to procedural rules of the IAEA board.

The ZNPP reported multiple drone attacks on Sunday. It was the first time since November 2022 that the plant was "directly targeted in military action."

On Sunday night, the IAEA confirmed that the attacks caused damage to one of the Zaporozhye's six power units, but nuclear safety has not been compromised. However, the UN nuclear watchdog did not say who was to blame for the attacks.

Russia said Ukraine struck the ZNPP, injuring three people working at the plant. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the recent shelling on the ZNPP was "a very dangerous provocation" with negative consequences.

"The international community is obliged to recognise and respond to this act of nuclear terrorism by the Kiev regime," said Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry. 

"How many more times should the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant so that the West and the monster Zelensky, fec by it, will stop repeating this deadly act of their bloody circus?," she asked. 

Zaporozhye is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe with a total capacity of 6 gigawatts. At the end of February 2022, the facility was taken under Russian control.