Drone hits IAEA vehicle on road to Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, agency says

BERLIN (Reuters) -A drone hit and severely damaged an official vehicle of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the road to Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Tuesday, the agency's head said.

There were no casualties and the teams are safe, Rafael Grossi, director general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said in a video posted on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the strike was a deliberate Russian attack that showed Moscow had total disregard for international law and institutions.

In a statement, Russia's Defence Ministry made no mention of the incident, which occurred as contingents of IAEA monitors were being rotated in and out of the station. But the statement strongly suggested Moscow's forces would not have been responsible for any such attack.

"I condemn in the most firm terms this attack on the IAEA staff," Grossi said. "We call, once again, as we have done it before, for the utmost restraint."

Grossi said attacking a nuclear power plant is a no-go and attacking those working to prevent a nuclear accident during the military conflict is "even more unacceptable."

He made no suggestion of who might have been responsible.

A picture posted alongside his statement showed a vehicle with clear IAEA markings, its rear portion badly damaged.

Zelenskiy, also writing on X, said: "This attack clearly demonstrated how Russia treats anything related to international law, global institutions, and safety. The Russians could not have been unaware of their target; they knew exactly what they were doing and acted deliberately."

He called for "a clear and decisive response" from the IAEA and other international bodies.

Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's biggest nuclear power station, soon after Moscow's 2022 invasion of its neighbour. Each side in the 33-month-old war has since accused the other of shelling the plant and endangering nuclear safety.

The Russian Defence Ministry, writing on Telegram, said Russian forces had overseen the staff rotation and had "strictly observed" a 12-hour ceasefire declared along the route taken by the IAEA personnel escorted in and out of the plant.

Forensic specialists, it said, had checked the site for unexploded ordnance it said might have been left over from Ukrainian shelling.

(Reporting by Maria Martinez and Ron PopeskiEditing by Bill Berkrot and Rod Nickel)