Meanwhile, Russian-backed media report Ukraine is responsible for ZNPP strikes
Energoatom’s Zaporizhzhia plant, in southeastern Ukraine, as it appeared in a photo posted to the DOE website in June 2021. (Photo: Energoatom)
Amid recent ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. should take control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants for long-term security, the Associated Press reported.
“American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure,” Trump suggested, according to a later statement.
The IAEA vehicle struck by a drone within the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. (Image: X/@ZelenskyyUa)
A drone targeted and damaged an official vehicle of the International Atomic Energy Agency on December 10 as it traveled toward the front line in eastern Ukraine during a rotation of IAEA teams at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP). In a video message, IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi condemned the strike as an “unacceptable” attack on IAEA staff working to prevent a nuclear accident during a military conflict.
Screenshot from a video released by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a fire that broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on August 11, 2024.
Thick, black smoke pouring from one of the cooling towers at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant over the weekend raised alarm about safety at the facility as the military conflict with Russia continues.
On-site staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency witnessed the smoke and reported hearing multiple explosions at Zaporizhzhia, which is the largest nuclear plant in Europe and one of the largest worldwide.
