IAEA chief condemns reported killing at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

The head of the United Nations atomic agency condemned the reported killing of Aleksandr Yakovlev, described by Russia as the chief engineer of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in a drone strike that no one has claimed.

Russia blamed Ukraine for the reported death. Kyiv rejected the accusation as baseless and said Moscow had not provided evidence.

Alexei Likhachev, head of the Russian nuclear company Rosatom, said Yakovlev died when a drone belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces hit a service vehicle near the plant. He said a driver was also killed.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its chief, Rafael Grossi, condemned the reported incident as an unacceptable attack on the plant and its management that seriously threatened nuclear safety. The agency called for an immediate end to all attacks on or near nuclear sites and their staff.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had urged the IAEA to condemn what she called the alleged murder.

Likhachev said in a Rosatom Telegram post that Yakovlev had devoted his life to nuclear energy and had died at what he described as his combat post. The source reported that the Telegram accounts of the plant and Rosatom had not previously mentioned Yakovlev, and that the plant's Moscow-appointed director Yuri Chernichuk, a former chief engineer at the plant, normally speaks publicly.

Ukraine's foreign ministry said there had been no independent confirmation of the Russian version or evidence of Ukrainian involvement. It said information from Russian occupation structures could not be considered reliable.

Russian troops captured the Zaporizhzhia plant in March 2022, shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The plant is the largest in Europe, and its safety has been a recurring concern during the conflict. Both sides regularly accuse each other of strikes on the site, which is in Enerhodar on the Dnipro river, a frontline area.