During Russia's war against Ukraine, the plant of Europe's largest nuclear power plant near the city of Zaporizhia is said to have been shelled.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of targeted fire from Russian tanks.

"Europe needs to wake up now," said Zelenskyy in a video message published on Telegram on Friday.

He also recalled the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. "Right now Russian tanks are shelling the reactor blocks," said Zelenskyy.

Ukraine demanded the closure of the airspace.

“There are tanks equipped with thermal imaging cameras.

That means they know where they are shooting, they have prepared for it," said the head of state.

These statements could not initially be verified independently.

"The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is on fire," he said.

After a phone call with Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden called on Russia to end its military activities in the area around the nuclear power plant.

The Russian army must allow firefighters and rescue workers access to the site, Biden said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also informed, the government in London said.

IAEA: No increased radiation exposure

A fire broke out on the site of the power plant, according to the press service of the nuclear power plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna was involved.

So far there have been no reports of increased radiation, it said.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is speaking with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal about the "serious situation" at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, calling for a cessation of violence and "warning of serious dangers if reactors are hit," the agency wrote on Twitter on Friday morning .

One of four kilns in operation

According to the Ukrainian authorities, the fire broke out in a training center at the nuclear facility.

In the nuclear power plant, only the fourth block is currently in operation.

Moscow had informed the IAEA that Russian units had taken control of the area around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant.

From the point of view of the IAEA, the plant itself is also under Russian control, although operation is continued by Ukrainian employees and under the supervision of the authorities in Kyiv.

Russia's military seizure of Ukraine's nuclear facilities has been condemned by the IAEA's governing body.

According to diplomats, a corresponding resolution of the IAEA Board of Governors was only rejected by Russia and China.

According to the resolution, the risk of a nuclear accident with international repercussions had increased significantly in the course of the Russian invasion.

Russian ambassador denies

The IAEA resolution is based on lies, Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov, who represents Russia at the international organizations in Vienna, told journalists.

Russian forces would never use force at nuclear facilities, they would only protect them.


"They do not intervene in the operation of the nuclear facilities," he said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter that the Russian army was shooting at the facility “from all sides”.

"The fire has already broken out.

If it explodes, it will be ten times bigger than Chernobyl!” Russia must stop shooting immediately to allow firefighters to get to the fire.

There was no confirmation from the Russian side of an alleged shelling.

There are several nuclear facilities in Ukraine.

On April 26, 1986, one of the worst catastrophes in the peaceful use of nuclear energy occurred in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

After the explosion of a reactor block of the nuclear power plant, radioactive substances spread over large parts of Europe over several days.

The fighting must be stopped immediately for security reasons, the mayor of the city of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, demanded via the Telegram news service.

In the city is the nuclear power plant, named after the metropolis of Zaporizhia, 50 kilometers away.

Orlov previously reported about 100 Russian military vehicles in the area.

The information could not initially be verified independently.

Strategic goal: control of nuclear facilities 

In the eight-year conflict, Ukraine was repeatedly accused of wanting to internationalize the crisis in the country in order to mobilize the international community to intervene.

Warnings about the dangers surrounding the nuclear power plants have also recently come from Russia.

The Russian army, for example, announced that it quickly secured the Chernobyl facility after invading the country.

The Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who is close to the Kremlin and subject to sanctions from the West, called for peace negotiations to contain the nuclear threat from Ukraine.

The country still has 15 nuclear units and 3 nuclear fuel storage facilities on its territory, he said.

He warned of major risks for Russia, Ukraine and Europe should a nuclear incident occur there.

That would doom the region for the next 200 years, Deripaska said.