Moscow and Kiev on Sunday blamed each other for a fire on the site of Europe's largest Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which is currently occupied by Russia, but neither side has reported any signs of elevated radiation levels.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog that has a presence at the vast six-reactor complex, said its experts saw heavy black smoke coming from the northern part of the site in southern Ukraine after multiple explosions.
The main blaze was put out just before midnight on Sunday, Russian state news agencies TASS and RIA reported, citing the country's nuclear energy company Rosatom.
The fire came less than a week after Ukrainian forces launched their biggest incursion into Russian territory since the war began in 2022. The surprise move brought the conflict to a new phase after weeks of Moscow's dominance on the battlefield.
Ukrainian nuclear power company Energoatom said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that one of its cooling towers and other equipment had been damaged.
Russia's TASS news agency also cited Rosatom in a statement, saying a cooling tower had been damaged. TASS quoted a local Russian emergency ministry representative as saying the cooling tower was not functioning.
Russia seized the plant shortly after launching a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022 in what Moscow described as a “special operation.” The plant's six reactors are in cold shutdown.
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The cause of the fire, which broke out at about 8pm on Sunday (1700 GMT), was still unclear as of early Monday morning.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of starting the blaze, which he said was visible from Nikopol, Kyiv, a town overlooking the Russian-controlled nuclear plant.
Yevgeny Balitsky, a senior Russian official in occupied southern Ukraine, accused Kiev's forces of shelling the plant and the nearby city of Enerkhodar, which was also occupied by Russia shortly after the February 2022 invasion, sparking the fires.
The IAEA said no nuclear safety implications had been reported at the facility.
“The team was informed by (the nuclear power plant) that one of the cooling towers on the site was attacked by a drone today,” X wrote.
Ukraine's Energoatom said the fire could have been caused by Russian “negligence” or arson, and also said, without providing evidence, that Russia uses the plant's cooling towers to store military equipment and explosives.
Meanwhile, Russian officials, including Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, accused Kiev of deliberately trying to destroy the nuclear plant and commit “nuclear terrorism”.
President Zelenskiy released grainy footage that appeared to show black smoke pouring from a flame burning at the base of a cooling tower.
“Currently, radiation indicators are normal. But the situation is not and cannot become normal as long as Russian terrorists continue to control the nuclear power plant,” he said.
The plant's six reactors, located near the front line of the war in Ukraine, are currently idled but rely on external power to cool nuclear material and prevent a catastrophic accident.
Moscow and Kiev frequently accuse each other of endangering the security of their neighbours.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
