Head of security at ZNPP killed by bomb, IAEA director general said

Andrii Korotkyi, head of security at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, was killed in a car explosion, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general Monday.

“Any targeting of employees of nuclear power plants would constitute a blatant violation of this pillar fundamental for overall nuclear safety and security,” International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi said in a statement.

Ukraine’s military intelligence said in a statement on its website that Korotkyi cooperated with the Russian Federation by giving them lists of Zaporizhzhya employees with pro-Ukrainian positions. The lists included employees’ personal data, the statement said.

According to the IAEA’s statement, Russia wrote a letter to the agency saying that Korotkyi was “one of the key staff members responsible for ensuring nuclear security” at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Ukraine, however, told IAEA that Korotkyi was not a ZNPP staff member anymore.

While the Ukrainian military intelligence did not confirm or deny its involvement with the attack, it posted a video of the explosion on the social media site X with the caption, “just retribution awaits every war criminal.”

Grossi urged both sides to exercise “maximum restraint” in the IAEA’s statement. 

“Any statements indicating further retaliatory measures – potentially affecting staff of the Zaporizhzhya NPP – would be unacceptable and contrary to the safety pillars established by the IAEA,” Grossi said. “Any such threats deny staff who are not responsible for the overarching political and military situation the minimum standards of working conditions to do their jobs properly.”