LVIV, Ukraine/KIEV/PARIS (Reuters) – Russian forces seized the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, after intense fighting, which raised fears for the safety of the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Europe.
Russian troops had launched an assault against this plant in the early hours of Friday and the fire which had started in an adjacent building on the sidelines of the clashes was brought under control on Friday morning, said the Ukrainian authorities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assured that the security of the plant was not threatened.
During a press conference, the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, indicated that no radioactive leak had been detected.
According to Rafael Grossi, the projectile that started the fire was probably Russian.
Quoting the Ukrainian nuclear regulator, the IAEA had earlier in the morning said that the essential equipment of the plant had not been affected by the fire.
An official from Energoatom, the state-owned company that operates four nuclear power plants in Ukraine, said there was no more fighting around the site and radiation levels were normal.
“Staff are at their place of work ensuring the normal operation of the plant,” the official told Reuters.
In a televised address, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky addressed the Russian population directly, calling on them to demonstrate against the takeover of the plant by Russian forces.
The Russian Minister of Defense for his part denounced an operation of sabotage on the part of Ukraine, describing it as “monstrous provocation”.
Fear of a nuclear incident in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused financial markets to fall. In Europe, the main stock exchanges were down sharply.
Reacting to the attack by Russian forces, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Russian President Vladimir Putin was playing with fire.
“We call on the Russian president in the strongest possible terms to absolutely stop attacking sites like this, it’s incredibly dangerous,” the minister told a press conference during a visit Copenhagen in Denmark.
In France, the Autorit de sret nuclaire (ASN) said to ensure an “active monitoring” of the information available concerning the situation of the nuclear installations on the Ukrainian territory.
BIDEN AND JOHNSON KEEP INFORMED OF SITUATION
Images, which Reuters was able to verify, showed a cloud of smoke and flames emanating from an unidentified building near the plant, located about 550 kilometers from the Ukrainian capital Kiev. These images also showed shells falling near a parking lot at the site.
“Europeans, please wake up. Tell your politicians that Russian troops are firing on a nuclear power plant in Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said in a video message.
Russia has already seized the site of the former Chernobyl power plant, located a hundred kilometers north of Kiev, the scene of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
Some analysts have noted that the Zaporizhia plant was built differently and safer than the Chernobyl plant.
US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke separately with Volodimir Zelensky to be briefed on the Zaporizhia situation, their respective offices reported.
Reporting on the phone call between Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart, the White House said the two leaders “urged Russia to cease its military activities in the region and allow fire and rescue services access to the site” .
Boris Johnson said the “reckless” actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin could now “directly threaten the security of Europe as a whole”, Downing Street reported.
Thousands of people are said to have been killed or injured in the offensive launched by Moscow in Ukraine, which has entered its ninth day and constitutes the most significant attack against a European state since the end of the Second World War.
Over a million people, mostly women and children, have fled the country.
(Reporting Pavel Polityuk, Natalia Zinets, Aleksandar Vasovic, with David Ljunggren Ottawa, John Irish Paris and the offices of Reuters; French version Jean Terzian, Myriam Rivet and Matthieu Protard, told by Blandine Hnault and Sophie Louet)
by Pavel Polityuk, Aleksandar Vasovic and John Irish