Footage of AFU attack on IAEA convoy during rotation from ZNPP is published

Footage of an attack by Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) fighters on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission staff on rotation from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (ZNPP) on February 12 has appeared at the disposal of Izvestiya.

The convoy was attacked by Ukrainian FPV drones while traveling to checkpoint No. 2. A total of two mortar, five artillery and four FPV attacks took place during the rotation, after which the observers decided to cancel the rotation.

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Earlier in the day, the governor of the Zaporizhzhya region, Yevhen Balitsky, said that the AFU had launched a drone strike on a parking lot in the ZNPP satellite town of Energodar, which is located 300 meters from the plant's first reactor. He emphasized that the Kiev regime arranged a cynical provocation, disrupting the rotation of the IAEA mission staff. All the experts are now safe, Balitsky added.

For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that with this attack, which disrupted the rotation of IAEA experts, Ukraine had shown its terrorist nature and lack of commitment. She added that Russian servicemen, who were supposed to accompany a group of the agency's staff, waited unsuccessfully for the experts for several hours under the threat of shelling. After the IAEA workers failed to show up, the military were recalled, and on their return their convoy was subjected to drone strikes and mortar fire.

At the same time, Maxim Pukhov, acting head of the Energodar administration, suggested that a new route for the rotation of IAEA mission experts to the ZNPP, excluding Ukrainian territory, should be safe: Energodar - Rostov-on-Don - Moscow - (and so on).

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi drew attention back on January 23 to the fact that the nuclear safety situation at ZNPP is not improving and the agency's mission at the plant is far from being completed.

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