The Foreign Ministry urged the international community to react to the AFU attacks on Russian nuclear facilities

The international community should immediately respond to the constant attacks by Ukraine on Russian nuclear facilities, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said on 6 January. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said this in a commentary published on the agency's website on January 6.

"The Russian side urges the international community to immediately and in the most serious way respond to the incessant attacks of the Kiev regime on Russian nuclear energy infrastructure facilities, forcing Kiev to stop playing with the lives of countries and peoples in Europe and on other continents," Zakharova said.

She recalled that the day before, on January 5, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) attempted to attack with drones the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and its satellite town Energodar in the Zaporizhzhya region, where employees of the nuclear facility live with their families. The strike was repulsed and there were no casualties or damage.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman pointed out that the Kiev regime is constantly being defeated and losing ground under its feet, which is why it continues to engage in such arbitrariness and will not stop until its actions are strongly, directly and unambiguously condemned by the international community.

Zakharova emphasized that the Ukrainian leadership is ignoring nuclear safety norms and international law by continuing to attack Russian nuclear facilities, and there can be no forgiveness or justification for these actions.

Moreover, a convoy of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was once attacked, and Kiev did not think about the threat to the lives of experts from the agency's secretariat. The Russian Foreign Ministry's official representative emphasized that the IAEA should call things by their proper names and point out to Ukraine that it is unacceptable to attack both the ZNPP and any other Russian nuclear facilities.

The day before, on 5 January, the press service of ZNPP reported that the Ukrainian armed forces attacked with a drone the plant's training center, where the world's only full-scale reactor hall simulator is located. On the same day, IAEA officials reported explosions near ZNPP after a Ukrainian drone strike.

The head of the agency, Rafael Grossi, said on December 10 that an IAEA official vehicle was attacked by an AFU drone on the road to ZNPP. He condemned the strike, specifying that no one was injured, and added that the rotation of staff had been accomplished.

Before that, on December 5, the head of the IAEA said that the situation around the plant continues to be tense and unstable while fighting is going on in its vicinity.

Zaporizhzhya region, where the nuclear power plant is located, became part of the Russian Federation following a referendum in September 2022. Since then, Zaporizhzhya NPP has been under constant IAEA monitoring.