An employee at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was killed on Friday morning in a car bomb attack, Russian investigators said, in an attack the plant blamed on Ukraine.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said the employee, Andrei Korotkiy, died after a bomb planted under his car went off outside his house in the city of Enerhodar, where the plant is located.

Korotkiy worked in the plant's security department, the Committee said. A criminal case has been opened into his death.

In a statement, the plant accused Ukrainian authorities of orchestrating the murder.

"This is a horrific, inhumane act," said plant director Yuri Chernichuk, vowing punishment for the attackers.

"An attack on employees ensuring the safety of the nuclear facility is a reckless, outrageous step."

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Long-standing concerns about a plant accident

Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest with six reactors, soon after they entered Ukraine in February 2022 in what Moscow called a "special military operation."

Both sides have regularly accused each other of staging attacks on the plant, which both deny.

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Denys Vasyliev lives in the Ukrainian city that is also home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since it invaded Ukraine. He says he talks to his family about the 'worst scenarios' and has procured safety equipment, but says they also focus on the 'best scenario' in order to stay positive.

Power lines to the Zaporizhzia plant have been cut on several occasions, increasing the chance of a blackout that could cause a nuclear accident.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stationed monitors permanently at the plant and urged both sides to refrain from all attacks on it.

As the war heads toward its third winter, the Ukrainian air force said on Friday that Russia attacked critical infrastructure in the country with 19 drones overnight.

Air defences shot down nine drones, with seven more likely impacted by electronic jamming, it said in a statement, without saying what happened to the other three.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an apartment building had been damaged in the capital, but reported no casualties.

Russian forces also hit critical infrastructure, utility facilities and 35 private residences in the past day in the southern Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin. Various attacks there killed one and injured four more, he said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement that its air defences had shot down or intercepted 18 Ukrainian drones overnight, including six over the Belgorod region, six over the Voronezh region, one over the Rostov region and five over the Azov Sea. All are near Ukraine.