A fire broke out in a cooling tower at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is under Russian military control, a Moscow-based official said on August 11, 2024. File | Photo credit: AFP
A fire broke out in a cooling tower at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Sunday, an incident blamed by both Kiev and Moscow.
Both sides said no increase in radiation levels had been observed around the power station, which had been under control since the first days of the Russian army’s full-fledged military offensive.
“A fire broke out in the cooling system of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station as a result of shelling of the city of Energodar by the Ukrainian armed forces,” Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, said on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that “the Russian occupiers have set the plant on fire.”
“At the moment, the radiation levels are at normal levels,” he said.
Mr. Balitsky also reported that the “radiation background” around the facility was normal.
Ukraine’s interior minister said he was “closely monitoring” the situation from meteorological stations near the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station.
All six of its units are currently closed, Mr Balitsky said.
“There is no danger of a steam explosion or any other consequences,” he said, adding that firefighters were on the spot to douse the fire.
A video published by Mr Zelensky showed black smoke billowing from one of the station’s cooling towers, with red flames rising downwards.
The site is on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River—the actual front line running through southern Ukraine.
Ukraine controls the opposite bank and Russia has repeatedly accused its military forces of deliberately shelling the plant – although Ukraine denies these claims.
Kiev in turn has accused Moscow of militarising the facility, including placing heavy weapons there at the start of the conflict.
It says Russia’s control of the plant is a form of nuclear “blackmail.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has staff stationed there, has repeatedly urged restraint and said it fears reckless military action could trigger a major nuclear accident at the plant.