Fighting is ongoing at the on-fire Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in Energodar, southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, amid fears an explosion would be “10 times worse than Chernobyl”
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is on fire
A huge blaze is tearing through Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine with the Russian army shelling it from all sides amid claims that if it explodes it would be “ten times worse than Chernobyl”.
Firefighters are being prevented from extinguishing it with potential catastrophic consequences, it is reported.
A battle is underway for control of the Zaporizhzhia power plant which is on fire as Russian troops bombard the important energy-producing city of Energodar in the south of Ukraine with shells.
A generating unit at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been hit during an attack by Russian troops and part of the station is on fire, RIA news agency cited the Ukrainian atomic energy ministry said.
“Firefighters can’t start extinguishing the fire at the Zaporozhzhia nuclear power plant – they are being fired on at point-blank range. There is already a hit on the first power unit,” the agency quoted the ministry as saying.
A fire at a nuclear reactor could lead to catastrophic consequences
The Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed it on Twitter and said an explosion at the nuclear plant could be 10 times worse than the Chernobyl disaster.
“Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe,” Kuleba’s tweet said.
“Fire has already broke out. If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chornobyl! Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!”
There are 15 nuclear reactors in Ukraine and six of them are at the Zaporizhzhia power plant.
An explosion at the plant would be 10 times worse than Chernobyl, it is claimed
It is feared that if one of the reactors is set on fire then it could lead to a disaster in Europe worse than that at Chernobyl.
Local mayor Dmytro Orlov had earlier reported fierce fighting between Ukrainians and Russian troops near the plant in
southeastern Ukraine.
“As a result of continuous enemy shelling of buildings and units of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire,” Orlov said on his Telegram channel, citing what he called a threat to world
security.
He added that there had been casualties without giving details in the fighting between local forces and the Russian troops.
The Russian military laid siege to Energodar, a city on the Dnieper River that accounts for about one-quarter of Ukraine’s power generation.
A fierce battle is underway for control of a massive nuclear power plant
Russian troops have been fighting for control of Energodar on Wednesday with tanks, a Ukrainian official earlier said.
Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said in online posts that the forces had taken control of the area around the Zaporizhzhia plant.
It comes as Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, some 100 km north of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.
Kremlin troops stormed the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on the first day of the invasion.
Thousands are thought to have died or been wounded as the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two unfolds, creating one million refugees, hits to Russia’s economy, and fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.
Six power units generate 40-42 billion kWh of electricity making the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant the largest in Europe
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Image:
Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
The incursion is entering its ninth day.
A member of Ukraine’s parliament has said the country’s government is collating examples of alleged war crimes by Russian forces, after the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor announced it had launched an investigation into the situation.
Vadym Ivchenko said video footage and other evidence was being gathered by officials.
The ICC announced its investigation amid reports of the use by Russian troops of cluster bombs, with a nursery school and a hospital both reportedly hit.
“We are gathering all the information, all the videos,” Mr Ivchenko said.
Mr Ivchenko also called for a humanitarian corridor to be established, saying that aid is not reaching some areas.
He said Sumy, a city in Ukraine’s northeast, is “now without a supply of water and supply of food…(people are) just afraid to go there with any humanitarian aid”.
He added that Russian troops have surrounded the city, saying: “Imagine what the people in Sumy feel…it’s a humanitarian catastrophe, and it’s not only one city.
“The humanitarian equation should be negotiated in the mediation of the United Nations or countries like the United States or the United Kingdom.”
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