Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Shuts Down Again Due to Russian Missile Attack, IAEA Chief: How Did We Let This Happen?

Rafael Grossi. (Twitter/@rafaelmgrossi)

JAKARTA - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi on Thursday again called for the protection zone around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, after another outage due to a Moscow missile strike, saying he was "shocked with complacency" around the matter.

"Every time we roll the dice. And if we let this continue over time then one day our luck will run out," Grossi told the IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors.

Europe's largest nuclear power plant lost its last external power line on Thursday morning, after missile strikes hit various parts of Ukraine.

The plant briefly switched to emergency diesel generators, the last line of defense to keep the reactor fuel cool and prevent a potential catastrophic meltdown.

Like previous attacks, Russia and Ukraine blamed each other. Grossi has been trying to get the two sides to reach an agreement, in which they will promise not to fire at or from the plant, with heavy weapons to be removed, diplomats said.

"This is the sixth time, let me say it again the sixth time, ZNPP has lost all offsite power and has had to operate in this emergency mode," Grossi said at the board's quarterly meeting, according to an IAEA statement.

"Let me remind you, this is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. What are we doing? How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on. I am astonished with complacency, ' said Grossi.

Grossi emphasized that everyone must be committed to protecting the safety and security of the plant.

"And we need to commit now. What we need is action,"

It is known that Russia launched an attack using missiles on Ukrainian territory on Thursday, including a hypersonic cruise missile, leaving nine civilians dead and power outages.

Moscow confirmed it had used a hypersonic missile in Thursday's attack. Russia is believed to have only a few dozen Kinzhals, which fly many times faster than the speed of sound and were built to carry nuclear warheads with a range of more than 2.000 km (1.200 miles). In his speeches, President Vladimir Putin frequently extols the Kinzhal as a weapon that the NATO alliance backing Kyiv cannot intercept.

Ukraine says the attack knocked out power everywhere, including to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, disconnecting it from the grid and forcing it to use emergency diesel power to prevent damage. However, it was recently successfully reconnected to the Ukrainian energy grid, said operator Ukrenergo.