UN watchdog warns there's an 'unprecedented danger' of a nuclear accident at Ukraine's plants as Russian forces attack

• IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned of an "unprecedented danger" of a nuclear accident at Ukraine's plants.
• Grossi said "military operations at nuclear power facilities of Ukraine" have raised the risk of a disaster.

A United Nations nuclear power watchdog warned of an "unprecedented danger" of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine as Russian forces launch attacks around Ukraine's plants.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi gave the warning in a statement to the Board of Governors on Monday.

"The military operations at nuclear power facilities of Ukraine have caused unprecedented danger of a nuclear accident, risking the lives of people living in Ukraine and in neighboring countries, including Russia," Grossi told the Board.

Last week, a Russian missile struck a building at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. Grossi said the strike caused a fire but "no release of radiation."

"It was a close call," he added. "Such a situation must not, under any circumstances, be repeated."

Since the attack, he said, Russian forces have been occupying the plant and now control the management of operations of the six reactors.

"This is not a safe way to run a nuclear power plant," Grossi said. "I am deeply concerned about this turn of events."

He continued: "We must avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine. ... This time, if there is a nuclear accident, the cause will not be a tsunami brought on by mother nature. Instead, it will be the result of human failure to act when we knew we could, and we knew we should."

Members of the IAEA have volunteered to travel to Ukraine to help manage nuclear plants in the country.

In an earlier statement from the IAEA, the agency said they are "deeply concerned" about the threat of a nuclear disaster and that communications with the plant have been shut down, Insider previously reported.