Kyiv denies that it was behind drone attacks on nuclear plant

UN watchdog will hold extraordinary meeting over ‘very dangerous’ actions

Russia said yesterday that Ukraine had attacked the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant for a third day with a drone, but Ukrainian military intelligence denied that Kyiv had anything to do with the attacks.

Ukraine has denied it is behind a series of drone attacks on the plant over the past three days, including three drone attacks on Sunday, which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said had endangered nuclear safety.

“The unique training centre of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was attacked,” the Russian-controlled plant said in a statement.

The drone fell on the roof of the training centre, it said. No one was injured.

The Kremlin has said the drone attacks were carried out by Ukraine and said they were very dangerous, with extremely grave potential consequences.

Ukrainian military intelligence said Kyiv does not take part in action against nuclear facilities.

“Ukraine’s position is clear and unequivocal – we do not commit any military actions or provocations on nuclear facilities,” Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence, said on national TV.

RIA state news agency said the drone attack on the training centre happened just 10 minutes after representatives of the IAEA mission passed by.

An extraordinary meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation board of governors called by Russia to discuss attacks on the Zaporizhzhia plant is due to be held tomorrow, four diplomats said.

Meanwhile, UK foreign secretary David Cameron has visited Donald Trump in Florida, dramatically upping the stakes in an appeal to hardline US Republicans to authorise new funds for Ukraine.

The meeting on Monday night at the former US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort was Mr Trump’s first with a senior UK government minister since he left office in 2021 in chaotic circumstances, following a deadly riot by his supporters on Capitol Hill.

Mr Cameron, a former prime minister, has made no secret of his dislike of Mr Trump in the past, calling him “xenophobic” and “misogynistic” in his memoir. But the surprise talks underscored the election-year influence that Mr Trump wields over recalcitrant Republicans in Washington.

The ex-president dined with Mr Cameron at Mar-a-Lago, where the two discussed a wide range of topics including Brexit, Ukraine, and the war in Gaza, according to a readout from Mr Trump’s team. The two were joined by Karen Pierce, the UK’s ambassador to the United States.

“Among the topics discussed were the upcoming US and UK elections, policy matters specific to Brexit, the need for Nato countries to meet their defence spending requirements, and ending the killing in Ukraine,” read a statement from the Trump campaign.

“President Trump, Secretary Cameron and Ambassador Pierce also discussed their mutual admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth II.”

Mr Cameron went on to defend the optics of that meeting as “entirely proper” yesterday at a joint press conference alongside US secretary of state Antony Blinken, noting that US officials had recently met UK Labour leader Keir Starmer and his own past meeting with Mitt Romney when Mr Romney was running for president.

He declined to go into specifics about his conversation with the former president, while stressing that he was not planning to “lecture anybody” on the importance of funding Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s invasion force.

“Ukraine’s position is unequivocal – we do not commit any military actions on nuclear facilities”