The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the largest of its kind in Europe, was under attack by Russian troops and shelling, officials said, sparking a fire at a nearby administrative building.
There has been fierce fighting between local forces and Russian troops, the mayor of the nearby town of Energodar Dmytro Orlov said in an online post, adding that there had been casualties without giving details.
Orlov and other Ukrainian officials said earlier that a fire had broken out at the nuclear plant itself, but the state emergency services agency later confirmed the fire had broken out at a training building outside the plant perimeter.
The agency said the third power unit of six at the station was disconnected, adding only one power unit was currently operating. It added constant shelling was preventing firefighters from accessing the fire, which continued to burn on one floor after covering the three top floors of the building.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was aware of the shelling at the plant and was in touch with Ukrainian authorities. It added Ukrainian regulators have indicated there has been no change in radiation levels.
“We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire,” Andriy Tuz, spokesperson for the Zaporizhzhia plant, said in a video posted on Telegram.
The plant accounts for about one quarter of Ukraine’s power generation.
Orlov said Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the city’s outskirts. Earlier, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian troops were stepping up efforts to seize the plant and had entered the town with tanks.
A video feed from the plant southeast of the capital Kyiv appeared to show smoke and flames coming from an unidentified building. It also showed shells falling and exploding in what appeared to be a parking lot next to the plant.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that Russian forces were “firing from all sides” of the plant. He called on the Russians to establish a security zone and allow firefighters through.
Officials said crews could not access the fire to extinguish it due to the constant shelling. The state emergency agency said it was not allowing rescuers through until the battle had resolved.
The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the situation at the plant, and urged Russia to stop all military activities in the area.
Biden is also in touch with U.S. energy officials about the situation, the White House statement added.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke with Zelenskyy, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Twitter the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia station “are protected by robust containment structures and reactors are being safely shut down.” She said she had spoken with her Ukrainian counterpart about the situation.
Video showed flames and black smoke rising above the city of more than 50,000, with people streaming past wrecked cars, just a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency expressed grave concern that the fighting could cause accidental damage to Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors.
The invasion of Ukraine is entering its ninth day. Thousands are thought to have died or been wounded as the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two unfolds, creating 1 million refugees, hits to Russia’s economy, and fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.
Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Some analysts noted the Zaporizhzhia plant is of a different and safer type to Chernobyl.
On Thursday, the United States and Britain announced sanctions on more oligarchs, following on from EU measures, as they ratcheted up the pressure on the Kremlin.
Included was Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov, the founder of mining company Metalloinvest.
Visa restrictions will be imposed on 19 Russian oligarchs, their family members and associates, the White House said.
Sanctions have “had a profound impact already,” said U.S. President Joe Biden.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbor’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists. It denies targeting civilians.
–With files from Reuters and the Associated Press
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