Zaporizhia, Ukraine (WNEWS)- According to Ukraine’s nuclear regulator, Russian military forces seized the plant on Friday morning.
US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson both spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the situation.
A fire broke out in a training building outside the perimeter of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine, the largest nuclear power plant of its kind in Europe, after Russian troops had attacked the plant, the state emergency service said in a statement on Friday. The fire has been extinguished and radiation levels remain unchanged, though there are damages to several units of the facility, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power station.
According to an official in the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the reactors have not been damaged and the radiation levels are normal. In the absence of authorization to speak to the public, the official spoke on condition of anonymity.
⚡️Russian forces are firing at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, a city on the Dnipro River that accounts for about one-quarter of Ukraine’s power generation.
The city’s Mayor Dmytro Orlov said the plant is now on fire.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 4, 2022
According to Ukraine 24 television, the plant’s director has also confirmed that radiation safety has been properly secured at the plant.
Elensky said he had informed the leaders of the United States, Britain and European Union, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), about the potential risks of a nuclear disaster.
“If there is an explosion — that’s the end for everyone. The end for Europe. The evacuation of Europe,” he said in an emotional speech in the middle of the night.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported to the IAEA that Ukraine’s nuclear regulator had informed it there was no change in radiation levels at the plant.
#Ukraine: IAEA is aware of reports of shelling at #Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), in contact with Ukrainian authorities about situation.
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 4, 2022
It was earlier reported that Russian forces had shelled the plant in their battle for control of the crucial energy-producing city of Enerhodar, and the power station was on fire.
Plant spokesperson Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the Zaporizhzhia plant and had set fire to one of the facility’s six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said.
#Ukraine tells IAEA that fire at site of #Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has not affected “essential” equipment, plant personnel taking mitigatory actions.
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 4, 2022
Firefighters could not get near the fire because they were being shot at, Tuz said.
According to Ukraine’s foreign minister, if the plant explodes, it will be 10 times as disastrous as the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. In that incident, a reactor suffered a meltdown and nearly 10 tonnes of radioactive material was released into the atmosphere and surrounding areas about 100 kilometres north of Kyiv. Two workers were killed immediately and another 30 died within weeks of radiation exposure.
Live footage from the security camera that was streamed from the website of the nuclear power plant showed what appeared to be armoured vehicles rolling into the parking lot of the facility and shining spotlights on the building where the camera was mounted. There are then what appear to be bright muzzle flashes from vehicles and then nearly simultaneous explosions in the surrounding buildings.
The city of Enerhodar is situated on the banks of the Dnieper River.
The fighting at Enerhodar took place just as another round of talks between the two sides yielded a tentative agreement on setting up safe corridors for evacuating citizens and delivering humanitarian aid.
Despite the large Russian armoured column threatening Kyiv appearing to be bogged down, Putin’s forces have been choosing to use their superior firepower against the Ukrainian capital over the past few days. They have launched hundreds of missiles and artillery strikes on cities and other targets throughout the country, in addition to making significant gains in the south.
The mayor of Enerhodar said Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the city’s outskirts. The video showed flames and black smoke rising above the city of more than 50,000. People streamed past wrecked cars, just a day after the UN atomic watchdog agency expressed grave concern that the fighting could cause accidental damage to Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors.
Mayor Dmytro Orlov and the Ukrainian state nuclear power company had earlier reported that a Russian military column was headed straight for the nuclear plant. Rocket fire and loud shots were heard late on Thursday evening.
A U.S. defence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the link had not yet been publicly announced said the Pentagon had set up a direct communication link with the Russian Ministry of Defense earlier this week to avoid the possibility of a miscalculation causing conflict between Moscow and Washington.
Leaders in Ukraine appealed to their citizens to defend their homeland by cutting down trees, erecting barricades in the cities, and attacking enemy columns from the rear. A number of civilians have been given weapons and taught how to make Molotov cocktails by authorities over the past few days.
“Total resistance. … This is our Ukrainian trump card, and this is what we can do best in the world,” Oleksiy Arestovich, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a video message, recalling guerrilla actions in Nazi-occupied Ukraine during the Second World War.
