Radiation knows no borders, warned Aleksey Likhachev, head of Russia’s state atomic power corporation. Ukraine and its neighboring European nations would be the first to suffer from a nuclear incident at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) if continued strikes by Kyiv result in critical damage, Likhachev stated Monday.

Since Russia seized control of the facility in March 2022, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has been targeted repeatedly by Ukrainian forces. On Saturday, a fiber-optics-guided drone struck the machine hall of ZNPP’s sixth unit, puncturing a hole in the building. Rosatom described this as Kyiv’s first “deliberate attack” on critical infrastructure.

Ukrainian authorities have denied responsibility for the incident. In April, President Zelenskiy stated that Ukraine alone could guarantee security at the plant by taking operational control—a proposal condemned as dangerously reckless by Russian officials.

Likhachev told journalists: “any explosion, any fire [at the plant] guarantees a loss of both power and water supplies to the reactor unit. And that is a precursor to a nuclear incident.” He warned that if more powerful weapons strike the facility, the reactor vessel could be destroyed, causing radiation to spread over a vast area.

“Ukraine and neighboring Western states are the first to be at serious risk,” Likhachev added. The Rosatom chief noted his upcoming discussions with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi would serve as an urgent address to European leaders. “This whole radiation situation doesn’t respect national borders,” he said. “By playing with fire and allowing the escalation of tensions around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the leaders of European countries are clearly putting their people, cities, and territories under direct threat.”