MOSCOW (Reuters) – An employee at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was killed on Friday morning in a car bomb attack that Ukrainian military intelligence said had punished a “war criminal”.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said the employee, Andrei Korotkiy, had died after a bomb planted under his car went off near his house in the city of Enerhodar, where the plant is located.
Korotkiy worked in the plant’s security department, the Committee said. A criminal case has been opened into his death.
Ukrainian military intelligence published a video of his car exploding and in a statement called Korotkiy a “war criminal” and collaborator, accusing him of repressing Ukrainians and of handing Russia a list of the plant’s employees and of then pointing out people with pro-Ukrainian views.
“The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence reminds people that every war criminal will be fairly punished,” the Ukrainian agency said on its official Telegram channel.
The plant’s authorities condemned Ukrainian authorities for orchestrating the murder.
“This is a horrific, inhumane act,” said plant director Yuri Chernichuk, vowing punishment for the attackers.
“An attack on employees ensuring the safety of the nuclear facility is a reckless, outrageous step,” he added.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, soon after they entered Ukraine in February 2022 in what Moscow called a “special military operation.” The plant is not currently operating.
Both sides have regularly accused each other of staging attacks on the plant, which both deny.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stationed monitors permanently at the plant. It has urged both sides to refrain from all attacks on it.