Ukrainian and Russian leaders blamed one another after a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which has been occupied by the Russian military since March 2022.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, said in a statement its experts at the Zaporizhzhia plant saw “thick dark smoke coming from the north-western area of the plant, after hearing multiple explosions throughout the evening.”
Operators at the plant told the IAEA that the fire was started after a drone strike hit one of the plant’s two cooling towers.
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Despite the dramatic scene, both the IAEA and the Ukrainian government said there was no immediate cause for alarm. “Currently, radiation levels are within norm,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post.
Operators at the Zaporizhzhia plant told the IAEA there was no radioactive material near the site of the alleged attack, and a U.N. team independently verified that the radiation levels in the area were unchanged.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest of its kind in Europe, was seized by the Russian military shortly after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its six reactors were placed in “cold shutdown,” the IAEA confirmed.
Zelensky blamed the “Russian occupiers,” but did not elaborate on how the fire was started. “Since the first day of its seizure, Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia NPP only to blackmail Ukraine, all of Europe, and the world,” Zelensky wrote on X. “We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the IAEA to react. Russia must be held accountable for this. Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety.”
Meanwhile, Rosatom, the Russian state-owned energy corporation installed as the operators of the plant, placed the blame on the Ukrainian military.
In a statement published by Russian state-affiliated news service TASS, Rosatom accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism.” The company also blamed Ukraine for a similar attack that took place at the plant in June.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, blamed the fire on Ukrainian shelling of the nearby city of Enerhodar, CNN reported.
The IAEA has so far refused to place blame for the most recent fire. “These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement on Sunday. “They must stop now.”
The fire at Zaporizhzhia comes only days after the Ukrainian military launched a counteroffensive into Russian territory. The fighting has brought Ukrainian troops close to the massive Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, prompting another warning from the IAEA on Friday.
