A fire broke out in Zaporozhye NPP, which is considered the largest in Europe. Russia and Ukraine blame each other, while admitting that the fire did not affect radiation safety. Nevertheless, the IAEA warned that the potential risk of such incidents could be high.

Kiev and Moscow are blaming each other after a massive fire broke out at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, on Sunday night. Both sides admit that the fire did not affect radiation safety, but the IAEA warns of the potential threat of such incidents.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said a day ago that the fire at the Zaporozhye NPP, which has been occupied by Russia since 2022, was caused by the Russian military. Yevgeny Balitskyi, the governor of Zaporozhye appointed by the Kremlin, claimed that the fire was caused by firing from Ukraine. The fire occurred less than a week after Ukrainian troops invaded Russian territory in the Kursk region, Reuters reports.

Observers of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that several explosions were heard in the evening at the six-reactor station, and thick smoke rose from the northwest part of the station.

"The [monitoring] team was notified today of a drone attack on one of the station's cooling towers. Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the IAEA, confirmed that this will not affect nuclear safety," the organization said in a statement.

The Russian State Corporation "Rosatom" reported that the main fire was extinguished by firefighters of the Ministry of Emergencies at 23:30. The corporation claims that one of the two cooling towers is ga Two direct hits were made by Ukrainian drones , resulting in internal structure fires.

According to Rosatom , internal structures of the cooling tower were "severely damaged", "this incident can be characterized as an act of nuclear terrorism".

The Ukrainian company " Energoatom " also reported that one of its cooling towers and other equipment was damaged.

Energoatom said without providing evidence that Russia uses cooling towers at nuclear power plants to store military equipment and explosives, and that the fire could have been caused by negligence or arson.

The Ukrainian and Russian sides claim that the fire did not affect the radiation background. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that the radiation situation in the country is stable, "no excess was noted." The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Igor Klimenko , also said that radionuclides of man-made origin have not been detected.

"So far, the level of radiation is normal, " Zelensky said. " But as long as Russian terrorists are in control of the NPP, the situation will not be normal and cannot be. From the first day of the seizure of the Zaporozhye NPP, Russia has been blackmailing Ukraine, Europe and the world." is using for".

The plant has two cooling towers located outside the plant perimeter on the north side of the cooling pond, but they were used when Zaporozhye NPP was operating at full capacity, not after the shutdown.

The fire at the Zaporozhye NPP occurred at the start of Ukraine's invasion of Russia's Kursk region, where the Kursk NPP is located, and has been ongoing for more than six days.

Russia acquired Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Zaporozhye, in 2022 shortly after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All six nuclear reactors at the plant are now in a cold shutdown. This means that the reactors are shut down and kept under low pressure. The last reactor was frozen in this way in April of this year.