Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said yesterday a Ukrainian drone had struck the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, causing no damage to key equipment, but the Kyiv military denied it.
Rosatom’s head Alexei Likhachev called the incident “deliberate” and said it left a hole in the wall of a turbine hall.
“This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Power Unit No 6, resulting in a subsequent detonation,” Likhachev said in a statement.
“The explosion caused no damage to the primary equipment; however, it tore a hole in the turbine hall wall.”
Ukraine’s military denied the Russian claims as “yet another propaganda ploy.”
It said that the Ukrainian troops did not strike power unit No 6 at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
“Ukrainian servicemen act strictly within the international humanitarian law and are fully aware of the consequences of any actions targeting nuclear facilities,” the military said in a statement.
“At the relevant section of the front line, there was no active fighting during the incident, and no weapons were used.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone strikes hit Russia’s oil infrastructure overnight, damaging a tanker and an oil refinery in Taganrog and striking an oil depot in Armavir, Russian regional officials and Ukrainian military said yesterday.
Rostov regional governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram that fires on the tanker and in the port of Taganrog had been extinguished, with no oil spill reported.
Two people were injured, he said.
Slyusar said that almost 50 drones had been downed in his region, with attacks reported across the province, which borders Ukraine’s Donbas, the focus of fighting between Russia and Ukraine. Outside Taganrog, he said, only minor damage was reported.
The commander of Ukraine’s drone forces said they had struck Taganrog, as well as an oil depot in Feodosiya in Russian-controlled Crimea.
&uuid=(email))