Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking car used to carry UN nuclear experts on Dec 10

Moscow: Russia on Wednesday accused the Ukrainian armed forces of attacking a car used to transport experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Dec 10, saying someone could have been killed.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on the day of the incident that a drone had hit and severely damaged an official vehicle of the agency on the road to Ukraine's Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Tuesday, but that there had been no casualties.

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

But Russia's Foreign Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said it was Ukraine that had attacked the vehicle.

"At around 1500, an IAEA vehicle used to transport experts from the agency's Secretariat was attacked in Kyiv-controlled territory," the ministry said.

"At 1637 Ukraine attacked a Russian convoy returning from the Kamenskoye settlement after having delivered experts from the IAEA Secretariat to the line of contact.

We share the indignation of the agency's (IAEA's) leadership at these provocative and reckless actions by the regime in Kyiv, which not only continues to commit crimes by threatening and attacking Russian nuclear facilities, but also dares to put the staff of an international organisation and Russian military personnel on rotation in mortal danger," the ministry said.

Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's biggest nuclear power station, soon after its forces went into Ukraine in February 2022. Each side in the 33-month-old war has since accused the other of shelling the plant and endangering nuclear safety.