Ukraine and Russia accused each other as they investigated the cause of a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Sunday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that putting it on fire was purposely done by the Russian forces that seized the plant since February 2022. The Kremlin-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia blamed this on Ukrainian forces shelling the facility.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said it observed “strong dark smoke” rising from one of the buildings but declared that there have been “no nuclear safety consequences reported.”.
The announcement has been made at a time when the Ukrainian forces have reportedly reached up to 30 kilometers into Russian territory, which has been the deepest and most significant Ukrainian breakthrough since the large-scale invasion in February 2022.
On Sunday, the Kremlin-approved head of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, reported that a fire had occurred at an ZNPP cooling tower.
He accused Ukraine of shelling the station but requested an ‘‘order’’ as there was no radiation increase near the plant.
However, Mr. Zelensky also explained that there has been no increase in radiation levels or threat of a nuclear incident, but directly blamed Russia for provoking the fire with the aim of ‘blackmailing’ Kyiv.
On Monday morning, another Russia-installed official, Vladimir Rogov, posted in his Telegram channel that the fire was ‘completely extinguished’.
It has been occupied and managed by the Russian forces and authorities since February 2022. Issho has not generated power in over two years now, and all six reactor units have been in cold shutdown since April of the current calendar year.
