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[Global Times Comprehensive Report] According to TASS, the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant posted information on social media saying that on the morning of the 17th local time, the Ukrainian army used drones to attack a road near the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant generator unit where employees often pass. Although the attack did not cause casualties, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that "the safety situation of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant is deteriorating."

On the evening of the 11th, a cooling tower at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant located in eastern Ukraine, suddenly caught fire and burned. (Visual China)

According to reports from AFP and Reuters, IAEA Director General Grossi expressed shock at the attack on the nuclear power plant, "I remain extremely concerned and once again call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and strictly abide by the five specific principles formulated to protect nuclear power plants."

According to reports, an IAEA team went to the scene of the incident on the 17th to investigate and reported that the damage seemed to be caused by a drone equipped with an explosive payload. The attack site was close to the cooling water spray pool and about 100 meters away from the only remaining 750 kV transmission line that supplies power to the nuclear power plant. The report said there were no casualties and the nuclear power plant equipment was not affected.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated on the 17th that "if the Kiev regime begins to implement its criminal plan aimed at causing a man-made disaster of radioactive contamination on European territory, Russia will immediately take severe military retaliatory measures." The ministry also stated that "the purpose of this provocative act is to accuse the Russian Federation of 'self-destructing' nuclear power plants in order to create a reason to strike Ukrainian nuclear power facilities."

According to a report on the website of Russia Today on the 17th, Russian military journalist Marat Hailulin quoted a source on the 16th as saying that Kiev is planning a "false flag operation" involving the detonation of a "dirty bomb" targeting the spent fuel storage of nuclear power plants. The reporter said that the operation is aimed at either the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant or the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.

According to TASS on the 17th, Alexey Likhachev, general manager of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, had a telephone conversation with Grossi, saying that "the security situation at the Zaporizhia and Kursk nuclear power plants is deteriorating due to the reckless behavior of the Ukrainian side." Likhachev invited Grossi to visit the Kursk nuclear power plant and the city of Kurchatov in the near future to personally assess the situation around the operating nuclear facilities.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhi denied Russia's accusation on social media on the 17th that Ukraine planned to use a "dirty bomb" or attack a nuclear power plant, saying that "Ukraine has no intention and ability to take any such action." (Zhang Wang)