Russia has accused Kyiv of assassinating the chief engineer of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, located in southern Ukraine and controlled by Moscow, in a drone attack.

Alexei Likhachev, head of the Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, said on Wednesday that Alexander Yakovlev was killed in a terrorist attack targeting him, carried out by the Kyiv regime.

He explained that Yakovlev was killed in a strike by a drone of the Ukrainian armed forces on a car near the plant, also announcing the death of the driver.

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Likhachev said in a post on Rosatom's Telegram account that Yakovlev devoted his entire life to nuclear energy and was killed while performing his duty. Russian authorities did not immediately issue any additional information about the attack.

Absence of mention of Yakovlev

There had been no previous mention of Yakovlev in the Telegram accounts of the plant and Rosatom. The Moscow-appointed director of the plant, Yuri Chernichuk, who was its former chief engineer, usually speaks on its behalf. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn this murder.

Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in March 2022, shortly after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Zaporizhzhia plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and the two sides of the conflict accuse each other of carrying out strikes in the vicinity of the facility, which is located on the bank of the Dnipro River, which serves as a natural line of contact between them.