A potentially catastrophic fire at Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant has been extinguished following an attack by Russian troops, officials said Friday morning.
Ukraine's State Emergency Services (SES) said in a statement on Telegram Friday morning local time that several dozen firefighters worked to douse the blaze, which began in a training building outside the main reactor complex of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. . "No one is dead or injured," the statement said.
The fire was brought under control at 6.20 am local time, the agency said in a statement. Officials had earlier said background radiation levels were normal and fighting had temporarily ceased.
In a Facebook post early Friday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately firing at the power plant.
"Russian tanks are shooting at nuclear blocks equipped with thermal imagers. They know what they are shooting at. They are preparing for this (attack)," Zelensky said in the post. Safe."
He said Russia's attack on the plant was in itself an extremely dangerous act and could lead to potential catastrophe.
"No country has ever fired on nuclear power plant reactors other than Russia. For the first time, for the first time in history," he urged European leaders to "wake up now" and stop the Russian military "before it nuclear disaster."
Plant spokesman Andrey Tuz told CNN on Friday that there was no serious damage to the plant near the city of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Ukraine's regulator had told the organization that there had been no change in the reported radiation levels and that "essential" equipment was not affected by the fire.
United States Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the US has activated its nuclear incident response team and is monitoring the incidents in consultation with the Defense Department, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the White House.
The plant's reactors are being "safely shut down", Granholm said, as he called for an end to military action near the facility. "The Russian military operation near the plant is reckless and should be shut down," he said.
The IAEA said via Twitter on Friday that it has placed its Incident and Emergency Center "in full 24/7 response mode due to the grave situation."
US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both discussed the situation in separate calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky early Friday. According to statements from London and Washington, the leaders called on Russia to cease military activities and allow full access to emergency workers.
The British statement said Johnson would call for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in the coming hours and that Britain would take up the issue with Russia and close allies.
Plant attacked
Reports of an attack on the facility emerged on Friday morning, with video of the scene showing bursts of gunfire apparently directed at the Zaporizhzhya facility before dawn.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba tweeted: "Russian military firing from all sides at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant."
IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said a large number of Russian tanks and infantry broke through "block-posts" to Enerhodar, which is a few kilometers from the Zaporizhzhya Power Plant.
Flames could also be seen in video footage, although for some time it was not clear where the fire was or how great the danger to the facility was.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Zaporizhzhia plant contains six of the country's 15 nuclear power reactors.
According to Ukraine's nuclear power operator Energotom, the facility accounts for a fifth of the average annual electricity generation in Ukraine.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, the IAEA's Grossi said the agency was in "constant contact" with Ukrainian counterparts to ensure the security of facilities in Ukraine.
"What makes this unprecedented is that this is the first time in post-World War II history that we have conducted a full military operation between a large number of nuclear facilities, including nuclear reactors," Grossi said.
"There is always the risk of military activity that may affect the sites or cause some disruption or some disruption to the normal operation of any of these facilities resulting in a problem or an accident," he said. .
Zaporizhzhia lies about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of the city of Donetsk, within one of two pro-Moscow regions recognized by Russia as an independent state last month.
UN resolution addresses nuclear threat
On Thursday, IAEA member states passed a resolution calling on Russia to stop cracking down on nuclear facilities in Ukraine, diplomats said.
The proposal, which was led by Canada and Poland, and supported by 26 other countries, called for Russia's "aggressive activity and attacks against nuclear sites in Ukraine, and the seizure and control of nuclear facilities," said Korin, the British ambassador in Vienna. Kitsell said.
According to the Czech Republic's foreign ministry, only Russia and China voted against the proposal.
This is not the first nuclear reaction under threat from a Russian invasion. On the first day of the attack, Russian forces captured the Chernobyl power plant in northern Ukraine, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant reactor exploded in 1986, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union—the beginning of a disaster that directly or indirectly affected 9 million people, due to radioactive material released into the atmosphere.
The IAEA said Ukraine had informed it that staff housed at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were facing "psychological pressure and moral exhaustion" since Russian military forces took control of the site a week ago, an IAEA statement said. According to.
In a joint appeal to the international nuclear watchdog, the Ukrainian government, regulatory authority and the national operator said the facility's staff should be allowed to rest and roam so that their vital work can be carried out safely and securely.