Likhachev: drone strike on Zaporizhzhia NPP is the first attack on a nuclear plant’s core equipment in history

Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev stated that the strike by a Ukrainian Armed Forces drone on the turbine hall of unit No. 6 at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is the first deliberate attack on a nuclear power plant’s core equipment in the history of the world community.

In his statement, Likhachev assessed what had occurred and warned of the possible consequences of further escalation.

“One can ‘congratulate,’ if one may put it that way, the entire world community — this is the first deliberate attack on a nuclear power plant’s core equipment, with a penetrating detonation and damage to the turbine hall building. The Ukrainian armed forces are crossing not just red lines, but the boundaries of common sense, time and again. What should we expect next? Strikes directly on the turbine? The reactor hall? The reactor and safety systems?” — Likhachev’s statement reads.

Thus, the head of Rosatom acknowledged that the next targets of attacks could be the turbine, the reactor hall, as well as the reactor itself and the plant’s safety systems.