“O shelling of the city of Enerdogar by Ukrainian troops caused a fire in the cooling system,” the pro-Russian governor of the region, Yevgeny Balitsky, announced on the Telegram social network.
The Zaporizhia power plant, the largest in Europe, has been occupied by the Russians since March 2022. It is located in Energodar, along the Dnieper, a river that acts as a natural front line between the belligerents.
In turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of starting a fire at the nuclear power plant facilities.
“From the city of Nikopol it is clear that the invaders set fire to the grounds of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” Zelensky wrote on the social network X.
“Right now, radiation is normal. But as long as Russian terrorists keep the nuclear power plant occupied, the situation is not normal and cannot be. Since the first day of the occupation, Russia has been using the nuclear power plant to blackmail Ukraine and the entire world,” the Ukrainian president added.
Zelensky said Ukraine expects a reaction from the world and atomic watchdogs and that Russia must be held accountable.
However, the IAEA, which has a team of experts at the Ukrainian power plant, said that “no impact on nuclear safety has been reported” following the fire.
“IAEA experts saw heavy black smoke coming from the northern part” of the site, after hearing “multiple explosions at night”, and were informed by management “of an alleged drone attack on one of the cooling towers”, the UN agency said on social media.
Governor Balitsky, sworn in by Russian authorities, also assured that the “radiological environment” around the plant, whose six units are closed as a security measure, was normal.
The Ukrainian Interior Minister, for his part, indicated that he was “carefully monitoring” the situation from supervision stations located near the plant.
“There is no risk of steam explosion or other consequences,” he added.
The IAEA has repeatedly called for restraint, fearing that “reckless” military action could trigger a “major nuclear accident”.
Read Also: IAEA calls for ‘maximum restraint’ near Kursk nuclear power plant
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2613922/incendio-deflagra-na-central-de-zaporijia-sem-impacto-na-seguranca
