MOSCOW, June 18 (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Alexei Likhachev, the head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, accused Ukraine of conducting a drone strike that resulted in the death of a repair workshop employee at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The incident occurred on June 17, 2026, in the city of Enerhodar, which serves as the residential base for the majority of the facility’s workforce.
According to Russian officials, the drone strike injured four residents in total. One employee from the plant’s central repair workshop was killed, while medical personnel are currently treating a second worker who sustained critical injuries during the attack. Ukraine has not issued an immediate response regarding the accusation, and international observers have not independently verified the claims.
Likhachev stated that the strike specifically targeted essential staff required to maintain the safety of the facility, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe. The plant has remained under Russian control since early 2022, though it is operated by Ukrainian technicians residing within the active conflict zone.
“This is the plant’s core personnel, on whom the safe operation of equipment at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant directly depends,” Likhachev said.
This incident marks a continuation of rising tensions and personnel casualties at the site. It follows a similar drone strike in April 2026 that resulted in the death of a driver from the plant’s transport department. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly warned that ongoing military operations near the facility pose a severe risk of triggering a major nuclear accident.
The facility remains in a precarious operational state as the conflict continues. All six Soviet-designed reactors at the site are currently in cold shutdown. While this status provides an emergency buffer against immediate meltdowns, the spent fuel pools still require consistent water circulation to prevent potential hydrogen explosions.
The plant has faced significant infrastructure challenges recently, including the 19th total loss of off-site power since the start of the conflict, which occurred just days before the drone attack. The facility was forced to rely on backup emergency diesel generators for nearly three days until a localized ceasefire, brokered by the IAEA, allowed for repairs to the external electrical grid.
Furthermore, the plant continues to deal with a long-term water supply crisis following the 2023 destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, which emptied the reservoir previously used to cool the reactors. Experts report that the water level in the plant’s cooling pond has decreased by more than 15 percent. While there is currently enough water to safely cool the reactors, the situation renders a full operational restart unlikely in the near future. Despite these constraints, Russian energy authorities have issued local operating licenses with the intent of rerouting the plant’s 5.7-gigawatt capacity into the Russian energy grid by mid-2027 to address power deficits in southern Russia.
