Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russian forces had started a fire on the grounds of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), warning of possible damage but assuring that radiation levels in the area remained normal.
“We have records from Nikopol that show that Russian occupying forces started a fire on the grounds of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” he said. Written on social platform X“Currently, radiation levels are within normal limits. But the situation is not and cannot become normal as long as Russian terrorists continue to control the nuclear plant.”
Russian forces have occupied the nuclear plant since early March 2022, weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly warned that Russia could shut down the plant, denying civilians access to electricity or, worse, causing a reactor meltdown.
Both Russia and Ukraine have accused the other of plotting to destroy nuclear power plants, raising concerns about nuclear safety.
“From the first day that Russia seized the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, it has used it to blackmail Ukraine, the whole of Europe and the world,” Zelensky continued. “We are waiting for the world to respond. [International Atomic Energy Agency] “React. Russia must take responsibility for this. Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant can guarantee normalization and a return to full safety.”
A video accompanying Zelenskyy’s message showed a massive fire at the base of one of the nuclear plant’s two huge cooling towers, with black smoke belching from the tower.
In 2022, fighting broke out around the plant, raising international alarm and ultimately leading to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors being stationed at the plant in the fall of that year. In June 2023, Ukraine announced that Russian troops had Withdrawal from the site He accused Moscow of preparing to blow up the nuclear power plant from the inside.
A Ukrainian military counteroffensive in the region in 2023 made little progress towards liberating the factory, and frontline activity in the region has largely halted since then.
Ukrainian forces launched a bold offensive into Russia last week, seizing land near Kursk, the first time Russian territory has been seized so far in the war, sending the Russian military command into a panic.
