The plant's director, Yuriy Chernichuk, has said that the IAEA inspectors present at the ZNPP were shown as quickly as possible at their request that the fire had engulfed plastic elements in the cooling tower attacked by the drone and that information in unfriendly media about burning tires and fuel was untrue. On Tuesday night, the IAEA issued a statement regarding the visit to the damaged cooling tower.
"Commenting on the statement by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi from August 12, following the visit of the agency's experts to the cooling tower of the Zaporozhye NPP, which was targeted by Ukrainian drones, it should be taken into account that this is a preliminary, strictly technical assessment of the situation. It is important that it be prepared promptly after the Russian side provided the appropriate access to the agency's specialists," Ustinov said.
The diplomat also said that the assessment "falls short of the expectations" of the Russian side regarding its content.
"It does not contain anything that would indicate the Ukrainian side as the perpetrator of what happened. But again, it is about a technical assessment on the hot trail," Ustinov added.
On Sunday, Yevgeny Balitsky, the governor of the Zaporozhye region, said that Ukrainian shelling in Energodar had caused a fire at the ZNPP cooling system facility. There was no threat to the plant, and the fire was extinguished. The plant said that the fire near the cooling towers did not affect operations and reported no casualties.