Four employees of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) have been wounded by Ukrainian landmines since the start of the week, the CEO of Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom has said.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and the adjacent city of Energodar have been targeted by Ukraine on multiple occasions with artillery and drones since Russia took control of the facility in March 2022.
Two victims of landmines have been hospitalized in critical condition, with one of them requiring a leg amputation, Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev told journalists on Thursday. Two others were lucky to escape with light wounds, he added.
Ukrainian forces began remotely mining the area near the ZNPP and Energodar where its employees reside four months ago, the nuclear chief said.
“Every night, drones drop ‘Lepestok’ (Petal) mines onto the main road leading into the city as well as onto routes used by personnel to reach the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and key intersections,” Likhachev stated.
The Rosatom chief described the attacks as “another attempt by the authorities in Kiev to drive residents out of Energodar and make the routine operations of the nuclear power plant impossible.”
The mines used by Ukraine were apparently Soviet-era PFM-1 anti-personnel munitions. The small butterfly-shaped devices got their nickname due to their typical green or brown color, so as to be camouflaged among the grass and foliage.
‘Lepestok’ mines are typically scattered in large quantities, either by aircraft or artillery. Designed to maim rather than kill, they are capable of blowing off or disfiguring a victim’s foot.
The PFM-1 is banned under the 1997 Ottawa Convention, to which Ukraine is a party, due to posing an increased threat to civilians.
In July, a Ukrainian drone hit a ZNPP service vehicle on the edge of the plant’s industrial site, killing its chief engineer, Aleksandr Yakovlev, and his driver. At the time, Likhachev called the strike a “deliberate terrorist act.”
According to the Rosatom CEO, more than a dozen employees of the plant have been killed and many others wounded in Ukrainian attacks over the past three months. Kiev’s actions pose the “real danger of a massive nuclear incident” affecting parts of Russia, Ukraine, and the EU, he warned.
Moscow has repeatedly criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts deployed at the ZNPP, for acknowledging the attacks on the facility but stopping short of blaming Ukraine for them.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov previously said that “what is required of the agency’s leadership isn’t verbal gymnastics or false political correctness, but clear assessments and concrete steps aimed at preventing the spread of threats to nuclear security.”
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