IThere is a risk of “spray of radioactive substances” at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, occupied by Russian troops, the Ukrainian public operator warned on Saturday.
According to Energoatom, Russian troops have “several times bombed over the last day” the site. “The plant’s infrastructure has been damaged, and there are risks of hydrogen leakage and spraying of radioactive substances,” the agency said on Telegram, adding that there was “a high fire risk “.
The operator claims that, since noon Saturday (0900 GMT), the plant “operates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards”. Russia, for its part, also accused Ukraine of shelling Zaporizhia in the past 24 hours. In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense assured that the Ukrainian artillery had fired 17 shells on the enclosure of the power plant, the largest in Europe.
“Four (shells) fell on the roof of special building No. meters from a used fuel depot and near another containing “fresh fuel”.
According to the Russian army, the Ukrainian army is firing from around the town of Marhanet, which faces the plant, on the opposite bank of the Dnieper river still controlled by kyiv.
Agence France-Presse was unable to verify these independent source statements.
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Zaporizhia at the heart of tensions
The Zaporizhia plant, where 6 of Ukraine’s 15 reactors are located, was taken by Russian troops in early March, shortly after the invasion began on February 24, and is near the southern front line.
kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of carrying out bombardments near the complex, itself near the town of Energodar on the Dnieper River.
On Thursday, the plant was cut off from the Ukrainian power grid for the first time since it was commissioned four decades ago, due to “actions of the invaders”, according to Energoatom.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the power outage was caused by Russian shelling of the last active power line connecting the plant to the grid.
The plant was put back into service on Friday afternoon, but the Ukrainian president warned that “the worst scenario (…) is constantly provoked by Russian forces”.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is urging a mission to be sent to the plant “as soon as possible to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation”.