A drone struck a cooling tower at Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant near the border with Ukraine, though no fire broke out, the United Nations nuclear watchdog stated on Friday, appealing for "maximum military restraint to prevent the risk of a nuclear accident".

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced it "has been informed that the cooling tower of a reactor unit of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in the Russian Federation was hit by a drone early on Thursday".

"It was reported that the unit was operating at the time, but its operating mode did not change and there was no fire," the IAEA said in a post on X.

The IAEA has issued frequent warnings regarding the hazards of military combat in the vicinity of atomic facilities since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The facility is located near the Russian-Ukrainian border to the west of Kursk city, the provincial capital which houses approximately 440,000 residents.

"All attacks on nuclear facilities are unacceptable as they could endanger nuclear safety and security, irrespective of where they occur," the IAEA declared in its social media post on Friday.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi "also reiterates call for maximum military restraint to prevent the risk of a nuclear accident," the agency added.

AFP