Russia, Ukraine trade blame over Zaporizhia nuclear plant fire | News
Moscow and Kiev traded accusations after a fire broke out at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian forces.
The Russian station's management said that a fire broke out yesterday evening, Sunday, in the facility as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack, and it was extinguished without affecting the station's operation.
While the plant's management spoke of a drone attack, Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian governor of the Zaporizhia region – which is partially controlled by Russian forces and which Moscow has declared annexed along with other Ukrainian regions – said that the largest nuclear facility of its kind in Europe was subjected to Ukrainian artillery shelling.
He added that the bombing caused a fire in the station's cooling systems facility, but he explained that all six power units of the station are in cold shutdown mode and there is no explosion or any other threat, also stressing that the radiation situation at the station and in the city of Enerhodar is normal.
According to Russian sources, a fire broke out in one of the cooling towers at the nuclear facility before it was brought under control.
In contrast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces had set fire to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, and called on the world and the International Atomic Energy Agency to take action, adding that radiation levels were currently normal.
For its part, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that the fire that broke out at the station does not appear to pose a threat to the security and nuclear safety of the facility.
“IAEA experts witnessed thick black smoke coming from the northern area of the Zaporizhia plant after several explosions were heard in the evening,” the UN agency said in a statement on its X platform. “No damage to nuclear safety has been reported,” the statement added.
The nuclear plant has witnessed similar incidents since Russian forces began controlling the nuclear plant following the war that Russia launched on Ukraine in late February 2022.