The IAEA team at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) heard explosions and saw smoke coming from a nearby location where the plant said one of its auxiliary facilities was attacked today, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

The IAEA team was informed by the ZNPP that the facility was struck by shelling and drones from 9am, around the same time as the team could hear military activity.

The auxiliary facility is located 1,200 metres from the ZNPP’s site perimeter and the IAEA team could still see smoke from that direction in the afternoon.

It was the latest in a series of incidents in recent weeks and months further highlighting possible dangers to nuclear safety during the military conflict at the ZNPP.

“Any attack in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant – regardless of the intended target – poses potential risks also for nuclear safety and must be avoided. Once again, I call for maximum military restraint near nuclear facilities to prevent the continued risk of a nuclear accident,” Director General Grossi said.

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