Ukraine and Russia have blamed one another after a hearth broke out on the big Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant on Sunday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky stated Russian forces had began a hearth on the plant, which has been occupied by Moscow’s forces for greater than two years. Zaporizhzhia’s Kremlin-installed governor stated Ukrainian shelling prompted the blaze.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog stated it noticed “sturdy darkish smoke” coming from the ability – however stated there was “no impression reported” for nuclear security.
The event comes as Ukrainian troops have superior as much as 30km inside Russia, within the deepest and most important incursion since Moscow started its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
On Sunday, Yevgeny Balitsky, the Kremlin-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, stated a hearth had damaged out on the cooling towers of the ability plant.
He blamed Ukrainian shelling, however requested for “calm”, including that there had been no radiation spike across the plant.
Mr Zelensky additionally stated there was no detected radiation spike or hazard of a nuclear leak – however accused Russia of purposefully beginning the hearth in an try and “blackmail” Kyiv.
Within the early hours of Monday, Vladimir Rogov, one other Kremlin-installed official, stated the hearth had been “fully extinguished” in a Telegram put up.
The nuclear energy plant has been below the management of Russian troops and officers since 2022. It has not produced energy in additional than two years and all six reactors have been in chilly shutdown since April.
In a press release posted on X, UN nuclear watchdog the Worldwide Atomic Power Company (IAEA) stated its consultants had witnessed “sturdy darkish smoke” coming from the plant following “a number of explosions”.
It stated the plant had reported “an alleged drone assault” on one of many cooling towers on the website.
“No impression has been reported for nuclear security,” the IAEA added.
In a later assertion, the IAEA stated it had requested “speedy entry to the cooling tower to evaluate the harm”.
The fireplace comes only a day after President Zelensky acknowledged for the first time that his army is conducting a cross-border offensive inside Russia’s western Kursk area.
In his nightly video tackle on Saturday, Mr Zelensky stated Ukraine’s army was pushing the conflict onto “the aggressor’s territory”.
A senior Ukrainian official advised the AFP information company that hundreds of troops have been engaged within the operation, way over initially reported by Russian border guards.
Kyiv launched its shock assault on Tuesday, quickly advancing more than 30km (19 miles) inside Russia – the deepest raid since Moscow started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia has thus far struggled to halt the Ukrainian advance, with greater than 76,000 individuals evacuated from the Kursk area, the place a state of emergency has been declared by native authorities.
Emergency trains from Kursk to Moscow have additionally been arrange by Russia’s rail operator for these trying to flee.
The preventing seemed to be ongoing over the weekend, with Kursk Governor Aleksei Smirnov saying early on Sunday that there have been injured individuals in a “treacherous” Ukrainian assault.
Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated the offensive was a “main provocation”.
