(Kyiv) Ukraine on Friday accused the Russians of strikes near a nuclear reactor at the Zaporizhia power plant (south), under Russian occupation since the start of the war.
Posted at 1:29 p.m.
“Three strikes were reported on Friday evening near one of the nuclear reactors,” announced on Telegram the Ukrainian state company Energoatom, which manages the country’s nuclear power plants.
Contacted by AFP, Energoatom could not be reached on Friday evening.
A high voltage line was damaged in this attack, triggering the shutdown of one of the reactors of the power station, the largest in Europe.
“There are risks of hydrogen leakage and spraying of radioactive substances. The fire danger is high,” according to Energoatom, which did not report any casualties at first.
According to Energoatom, officials from the Russian company, Rosatom, “hastily left the site before the attack”.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its part “strongly condemned the actions of the occupying troops at the Zaporizhia power plant” on Friday.
“The possible consequences of a strike on an operating reactor are equivalent to the use of an atomic bomb,” the ministry wrote in a statement, calling on the international community to take “immediate measures to force Russia out of the power station” and to “transfer it to Ukraine’s control in the interests of world security”.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday that the situation was “volatile” at the Zaporizhia power plant was becoming “more and more dangerous day by day”.
At the end of July, Ukraine accused Russia of storing heavy weapons and ammunition on the site of the nuclear power plant.
When the plant was taken over in early March, the Russian army opened fire on buildings on the site, already raising the risk of a major nuclear accident.