Ukrainian drones hit city near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Russian-installed official says

Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack on Wednesday on the city of Enerhodar near the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Moscow-installed regional governor said.

The plant's management said no safety violations were recorded.

"The radiation background at the site and in the observation area is normal," it said on the Telegram messaging app.

The drones hit a car park roughly 300 metres (yards) from one of the plant's reactors, Governor Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on Telegram.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Russian forces took control of the nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, soon after President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine in Feb. 2022. All six reactor units are in "cold shutdown" to reduce the risk of a nuclear accident.

Russia and Ukraine regularly accuse each other of shelling the plant and the surrounding areas.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has stationed permanent monitors at the site and urged both sides to refrain from attacking it.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned last week that the number of attacks on the plant had increased, adding that it was impossible to determine which side was responsible based on studies of the drone fragments.