On Wednesday, Iranian-designed Shahed drones reportedly conducted strikes in the vicinity of the power plant located in Ukraine's Khmelnitsky region. President Zelensky noted that these drone attacks injured 20 individuals and caused minor damage, such as broken windows. Fortunately, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that the operational status of the power plant remains unaffected by the attack.
"Powerful explosions shook an area near Ukraine's Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement. The blasts highlight "the dangers to nuclear safety" posed by the war, he added.
The Khmelnytsky power plant consists of two reactors, with one reactor currently in operation while the other has been in a scheduled outage since August. Concerns about the potential impact of conflict on nuclear power facilities have been a constant source of worry since Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It's worth noting that Russian forces have maintained control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine since March 2022, intensifying these concerns.
Kyiv has made accusations against Russia, alleging that it has engaged in shelling of the plant, which in turn poses a significant risk of a radiation leak. This behavior is described as "nuclear terror." Fortunately, up to this point, no major accidents resulting in a radiation leak have occurred since the full-scale invasion by Russia last year.
Nonetheless, the ongoing conflict and the potential targeting of critical infrastructure, including nuclear facilities, remain a cause for grave concern.
