Car bomb kills Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s head of security

A car bombing in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine has killed the head of security at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine announced on Friday.

Andriy Korotkyi, who Ukrainian military Intelligence said had “voluntarily cooperated with the Russian invaders” and “organised and carried out war crimes” under Russian occupation, was in the car when it exploded.

Korotkyi, a member of Russia’s ruling United Russia party, organised events supporting the Russian military and handed over the personal data of power plant staff to the Russians, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, which posted a video of the attack on its Telegram channel accompanied by the warning “a just retribution awaits every war criminal”.

Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed that Korotkyi had died after an improvised explosive device that had been placed under his vehicle was detonated. Russian investigators opened a criminal case into “murder with reckless endangerment” following the attack.

Russia unilaterally annexed Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region in September 2022 despite only being in control of some parts of the region. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest atomic energy facility, has been under Russian control since March 2022.

In early September, Andriy Shevchik, the former Kremlin-appointed mayor of Enerhodar who also worked at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, was severely injured in an explosion, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing the head of Russia’s atomic energy agency Rosatom, who said that the “number of threats” and “terror attacks against civilians” was on the rise in the city.