UKRAINIAN missiles hit the reactor cooler system at the Zaporozhzhia nuclear power plant in an attack on Wednesday, which could have had catastrophic consequences, Russian-appointed officials said today.

At least 11 workers at Europe’s largest nuclear plant were injured in the blast, with four believed to be in a critical condition, occupying authorities say.

The head of the Russian-appointed Zaporozhzhia Region Military-Civilian Administration Yevgeny Balitsky said today that the kamikaze drone attack could have been disastrous. 

“Nuclear safety specialists  present at the station say that the coolant system is, unfortunately, the weakest point,” he said, blaming Ukrainian “neonazis” for the attack. Fellow administration member Vladimir Rogov issued a statement saying the Ukrainian government — which he referred to as a “terrorist entity” — wanted revenge on the local population because of its supposed desire to unite with Russia.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the accusation that they fired on the plant. But footage showed plumes of smoke billowing from it after it was apparently hit by missiles fired from three drones.

The Zaparozhzhia nuclear power plant contains six units and used to generate around a quarter of Ukraine’s energy.

It was part of the state-owned energy company Energoatom, but has been operated by Russia since March after its forces seized control of the city.

The plant currently operates at 70 per cent of capacity as the Zaporozhzhia Region has a surplus of electricity, with Russia planning to redirect energy from it to Crimea.

Last week the head of the Energoatom, Petro Kotin, said the situation inside the plant was “extremely tense” with 500 Russian soldiers based there. 

He accused the Russian forces of bringing machinery including missile systems into the nuclear facility and using it as a base to shell Nikopol on the opposite side of the river Dnieper. 

On Tuesday the company said that senior official Ihor Khavshnin had been abducted and taken to a secret location. 

 “The invaders destabilise the situation at the occupied power plant and resort to new methods of terror,” a statement said. “They have started to abduct the personnel from the top management positions at Zaporizhzhia NPP.”

It was feared that Wednesday’s attack could have caused a disaster on the scale of that in Chernobyl, where a reactor went into meltdown during a safety test in 1986.