MOSCOW (Reuters) – An employee at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was killed on Friday morning in a car bomb attack, Russian investigators said, in an attack the plant blamed on Ukraine.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said the employee, Andrei Korotkiy, died after a bomb planted under his car went off outside his house in the city of Enerhodar, where the plant is located.
Korotkiy worked in the plant’s security department, the Committee said. A criminal case has been opened into his death.
In a statement, the plant accused Ukrainian authorities of orchestrating the murder. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
“This is a horrific, inhumane act,” said plant director Yuri Chernichuk, vowing punishment for the attackers.
“An attack on employees ensuring the safety of the nuclear facility is a reckless, outrageous step,” he added.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, soon after they entered Ukraine in February 2022 in what Moscow called a “special military operation.” The plant is not currently operating.
Both sides have regularly accused each other of staging attacks on the plant, which both deny.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stationed monitors permanently at the plant. It has urged both sides to refrain from all attacks on it.
