A fire broke out last night at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe in central Ukraine, following a Russian bombardment, the spokesman for this plant said on Friday.
“Following a bombardment by Russian forces on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, a fire broke out,” spokesman Andrei Touz said in a video posted on the plant’s Telegram account.
After a few hours of confusion during which Russian forces prevented Ukrainian firefighters from accessing the site, they were finally able to go to the area and put out the fire. “The fire was liquidated” around 5:20 a.m. Luxembourg time, the Ukrainian emergency services said.
According to Kiev, Russian tank fire on the plant set fire to a building dedicated to training and a laboratory. “Nuclear security is now guaranteed,” said Oleksandre Staroukh, head of the military administration of the Zaporizhia region, on Facebook. The attack did not cause any casualties, Ukrainian relief said on Facebook. Radioactivity levels remain unchanged at the site of the plant, which has six nuclear reactors and provides much of the country’s energy.