Russian state media, citing the country’s nuclear energy agency Rosatom, reported on Monday that the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which erupted over the weekend, has been extinguished. However, both Moscow and Kyiv continue to blame each other for the incident, with concerns over a potential nuclear meltdown remaining high.
Russian forces have been in illegal control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant for over two years. On Sunday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, stated that they had been informed of a purported drone attack on one of the plant’s cooling towers.
Moscow accused Ukrainian forces of striking the cooling tower with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) just hours after Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of the Russian space agency who has since taken on a pro-war role, was reportedly at the nuclear power plant, according to sources at East2West.
The reason for Rogozin’s presence at the plant, who has advocated for the use of UAVs and UAGs [unmanned ground vehicles] in Ukraine, remains unclear.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a Sunday night post on X, formerly Twitter, accused Russian forces of starting the fire at the plant, claiming that Moscow has been using the facility’s safety to “blackmail” not only Ukraine but “all of Europe, and the world.”
“We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the IAEA to react. Russia must be held accountable for this,” Zelenskyy said. “Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety.”
The IAEA confirmed late on Sunday that their experts had witnessed “thick dark smoke coming from the north-western area of the plant, after hearing multiple explosions throughout the evening.”
Both the IAEA and Zelenskyy confirmed that there was “no impact on nuclear safety” following the fire and that radiation levels remained normal.
The nuclear watchdog did not specify who attacked the cooling tower but condemned the “reckless attacks” in the area as posing a threat to the plant.
“Reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
The IAEA has requested immediate access to the cooling tower to “ascertain the extent and possible cause of this event.”
However, it remains unclear if access was granted.