JAKARTA - The head of the United Nations (UN) nuclear agency on Thursday condemned the killing of the head of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) engineer in Russian-occupied Ukraine in a drone attack, which no party claimed.
Russia blamed Ukraine for the deaths, but Kyiv described the accusations as "baseless" and said Moscow failed to provide evidence.
The head of Russia's giant nuclear company Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said on Wednesday that Aleksandr Yakovlev died when "a drone belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces" crashed into a service vehicle near the power plant that was the point of conflict.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi "condemned the reported incident which he said was an unacceptable attack on the plant and its management, which seriously threatens nuclear safety," the agency said on X, Al Arabiya reported from AFP (17/7).
"The IAEA calls for an immediate cessation of all attacks on or near nuclear sites and their staff," he added.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova urged the body to condemn the alleged "assassination".
Likhachev said in a post on Rosatom's Telegram account that Yakovlev "dedicated his whole life to nuclear energy and he died, in fact, at his post of duty."
A driver was also killed in the attack, he said.
Telegram accounts from the power plant and Rosatom had previously never mentioned Yakovlev.
Usually, the director of the power plant appointed by Moscow, Yuri Chernichuk, a former chief engineer at the power plant, speaks publicly.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denied the claim.
"There is no independent confirmation of the Russian version or evidence of Ukrainian involvement that has been presented, and information from the Russian occupation structures cannot be considered reliable," he wrote.
It is known that Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia power plant in March 2022, shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The power plant is the largest in Europe and its security has been a source of repeated concern during the protracted conflict.
Both Moscow and Kyiv regularly accuse each other of carrying out attacks in the location, which is located in Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River, which marks the front line in the area.
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