Zelensky says Russian forces started fire at Russian-controlled nuclear plant in southern Ukraine

CNN: Russian forces started a fire at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post Sunday.

Zelensky posted a video showing a large plume of smoke coming out of one of the towers on the plant’s territory. He said radiation indicators were normal but blamed Russia for using the nuclear plant “to blackmail Ukraine, and all of Europe and the world.”

“We are waiting for the reaction of the world, we are waiting for the reaction of the IAEA,” he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Russia must be responsible for this.”

Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the Ukrainian-controlled military administration in the Nikopol district, which looks out onto the plant, said there was unofficial information that Russian forces had set fire to a large number of automobile tires in the cooling towers.

He called it “a provocation, or an attempt to create panic” and reassured that the plant is “operating as normal as possible under the conditions of occupation.”

Russia, in turn, accused Ukraine of starting the fire on the plant’s territory.

The Russian-appointed official in control of occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeniy Balitsky, said the fire occurred “as a result of shelling of the city of Enerhodar by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” Balitsky also said there is no radiation threat to the nuclear plant or the city of Enerhodar.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia administration, said Kyiv forces launched an attack drone from the Ukrainian territory to strike the power plant and called it “a targeted and deliberate blow.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of “nuclear terror” following the attack and urged the IAEA to respond.

The Russian-installed communications director of the nuclear plant, Evgeniya Yashina, told state media TASS that there were no victims following the strike. However, the plant “suffered serious damage for the first time,” she said. TASS reported that “the non-functioning cooling tower No. 1 was damaged, and plastic steam traps caught fire following the Ukrainian drone strike,” citing the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The fire “did not affect the operation of the plant in any way,” and employees of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations are working on its elimination, the plant’s Russian-backed Telegram page said.

The IAEA issued a statement on X on Sunday following the incident.

“IAEA experts witnessed strong dark smoke coming from ZNPP’s northern area following multiple explosions heard in the evening. Team was told by ZNPP of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site. No impact has been reported for nuclear safety,” it said.

The incident came after Zelensky confirmed Kyiv’s troops are fighting inside Russia, days into the surprise Ukrainian cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region that has become a major embarrassment for the Kremlin.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the border region of Belgorod with airstrikes and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups have conducted limited cross-border attacks, but the Kursk operation marked the first time that regular Ukrainian and special operations units have entered Russian territory.

“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor,” Zelensky said on Saturday, thanking “every unit” of Ukraine’s armed forces for making it possible “to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”

Moscow has been scrambling to contain the attack. Russian authorities imposed a sweeping counter-terror operation in Kursk and two other border regions and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated.

Now into its sixth day, the attack on Kursk is a significant development in the more than two year conflict.