Despite the drone strike, the remaining facilities are still able to continue tracking levels, the Zaporozhye NPP has said
Published 22 Sep, 2026 12:15
| Updated 22 Sep, 2026 12:41
© Sputnik / Konstantin Mihalchevskiy
A Ukrainian drone strike has damaged a radiation monitoring post near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the facility said on Tuesday.
The station was located near the village of Ivanovka, around 13 km from the nuclear plant, and formed part of the system used to track radiation levels in the surrounding area. Such posts regularly collect data on background radiation, allowing specialists to detect changes and respond quickly if conditions deteriorate.
The plant said the remaining monitoring equipment and capacity were sufficient to continue observing radiation levels, but noted that the loss of the station has reduced the amount of data that could be quickly gathered from that particular area.
In the event of an emergency, the loss could become significant as specialists would need reliable readings from multiple locations to determine the nature and scale of any changes in radiation levels.
At the same time, the facility stressed that losing one post did not mean radiation monitoring had stopped and did not itself indicate any radiation threat.
Nevertheless, it warned that further attacks on radiation monitoring infrastructure could reduce specialists’ ability to obtain information quickly and comprehensively in the event of an emergency.
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Tuesday’s strike follows a series of attacks on and around the ZNPP that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine. Earlier this month, the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom said Ukrainian strikes hit tankers delivering emergency diesel fuel to the plant, killing two Russian servicemen and wounding several others. The fuel is used to power the backup generators needed for critical safety systems if the facility loses its external electricity supply.
In July, a drone strike on a service vehicle near the plant’s industrial site also killed ZNPP chief engineer Aleksandr Yakovlev and his driver. Rosatom has accused Ukrainian forces of using drones to scatter anti-personnel mines on roads used by plant employees and residents of nearby Energodar.
Russia has repeatedly warned that continued attacks around the facility risk triggering a nuclear emergency with consequences extending beyond the immediate area.
Moscow has also criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency, which maintains a presence at the plant, for reporting explosions, drones and other military activity around the ZNPP without publicly identifying Ukraine as responsible.
