Rosenergoatom reported broken windows in the turbine hall of the Zaporozhye NPP

As a result of shelling at the Zaporozhye NPP, the glazing of the turbine hall of the fourth power unit was damaged, informed Advisor to the General Director of Rosenergoatom Renat Karchaa in an interview with Rossiya 24.

“Yes, the windows in the turbine hall were indeed shattered, they were shattered by a blast wave. But this story is more connected with the use of not artillery strikes, but drones. In this sense, they (the Ukrainian military – Vedomosti) do not stop this activity,” Karchaa said. He said that there were no casualties among the employees, the infrastructure of the station was not damaged.

At the same time, the adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom emphasized that only the surroundings and the coastline are being shelled, and that “neither on the station itself, nor on the perimeter adjacent to the station” strikes that worry IAEA inspectors, “we did not record, they were not, saying easier”.

Karchaa added that, in his opinion, “there is an artificial escalation of the situation.”

On April 21, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi again expressed his concern about the situation at the ZNPP. In a press release published the agency’s website says that the IAEA inspectors present at the station “have heard shelling almost every day over the past week.”

“Since then (since March 29, 2023 – Vedomosti), our experts on the ground have often reported hearing explosions, intense shelling not far from the site. I am deeply concerned about the situation at the nuclear power plant,” Grossi said. The agency also said that inspectors found “extensive damage to the windows of Unit 4’s turbine room,” which they believe could have been caused by landmine explosions.

On March 29, the IAEA delegation headed by Grossi arrived at the Zaporozhye NPP. During the visit, the director general of the agency declaredthat hostilities around the territory of the station are intensifying.

Earlier, the head of the IAEA visited the station on September 1, 2022 against the backdrop of regular shelling of the facility by the Ukrainian side. Then the organization called for an end to the attacks on the ZNPP, without specifying who was shelling the plant, and to establish a safe zone around it.

ZNPP has been under Russian control since the end of February 2022. On September 30, the Zaporozhye region, as well as the DPR, LPR and Kherson region became part of Russia. Then the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin ordered to transfer the Zaporizhzhya NPP to federal ownership. Rosenergoatom became its operator.