Kyiv: A fire broke out in a building outside the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The Zaporizhzhia plant provides more than a fifth of the total electricity generated in Ukraine.
Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky accused Moscow of trying to “repeat” the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and said he had spoken with international leaders including US President Joe Biden about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Biden urged Russia to allow emergency responders to go to the site.
“No country other than Russia has ever fired on nuclear power units,” Zelensky said in a video message.
“If there is an explosion, it is the end of everything. The end of Europe. This is the evacuation of Europe. Only immediate European action can stop Russian troops,” he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urged an immediate halt to fighting there.
According to Reuters, a video feed from the plant showed shelling and smoke rising near a building at the plant compound.
Ukrainian authorities later said the site had been secured.
“The director of the plant said that the nuclear safety is now guaranteed,” Oleksandr Starukh, head of the military administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, said on Facebook.
“According to those responsible for the plant, a training building and a laboratory were affected by the fire,” he added.
Fierce fighting is raging in the area about 550 km southeast of Kyiv.
Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, about 100 km north of Kyiv.
