Extinguished the fire in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which alarmed the entire worldor faced with the possibility of an atomic disaster “ten times bigger than Chernobyl”, they made their way lhe accusations crossed between Ukraine and Russia for responsibility for the facts.
The Russian authorities indicated that the nuclear power plant was operating “normally” today and that the fire had been provoked by Ukraine as part of a strategy to hold Russia responsible for possible damage. “The personnel of the Zaporizhia NPP continue to work normally, maintain the facilities of the plant and monitor the radioactive situation. The radioactive background in the area of the plant is normal”, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said this afternoon, according to the Russian news agency Sputnik.
The spokesman denounced that it was Ukraine that caused a fire last night in the area of the plant. “On Thursday night, in the territory adjacent to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the Kiev regime attempted to carry out a monstrous provocation,” assured.
Konashenkov recalled that on February 28 the Russian military took control of the city of Energodar, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the adjacent area, and that the Ukrainian troops left the region before the arrival of the Russian soldiers.
Ukraine’s response
The Ukrainian version, on the other hand, notes that Russian shells that hit the facilities of the nuclear plant, located about 150 kilometers north of the Crimean peninsula, unleashed the fire in a building and a laboratory.
After a few hours of high concern, in which the Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelensky warned of a possible disaster “ten times bigger than Chernobyl”, in reference to the catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred in 1986 in that country, the relief services were able to extinguish the flames , according to the Kiev authorities.
For Zelensky it was Russian actions of “terror on an unprecedented level”.
repercussions
US President Joe Biden immediately contacted his Ukrainian counterpart, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia’s “irresponsibility”.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Argentine Rafael Grossi, offered to travel to the Chernobyl plant and negotiate with Ukraine and Russia guarantees for the safety of Ukrainian nuclear facilities.
According to the Russian Defense Minister, the goal of “the provocation of the Kiev regime at the nuclear facility was accuse Russia of creating a source of radioactive contamination.
“All this testifies to a criminal plan of the Kiev regime or Zelensky’s complete loss of control over the actions of Ukrainian sabotage groups with the participation of foreign mercenaries,” he said.
Scope of the nuclear power plant
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Ukraine and Europe, is located in the city of Energodar, on the banks of the Kakhovka reservoir.
The plant has six pressurized water reactors of the VVER-1000 model and has a total capacity of 6,000 MW. The first four generating units were commissioned in the period from 1984 to 1987; the fifth, in 1989 and the sixth, in 1995.