Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the world narrowly escaped a nuclear accident when the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was cut off from the grid for hours due to Russian shelling in the region, a claim Moscow denies.
Zelensky pointed out that the Russian bombardment on Thursday caused a fire in the area of the Zaporizhia thermal power plant, which in turn led to the disconnection of the nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, from the power grid.
Diesel generators ensured the nuclear plant continued to receive electricity, vital for the operation of its cooling and safety systems, the Ukrainian president explained.
At the same time, he praised the Ukrainian technicians who take care of the operation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant under the supervision of the Russian army.
“If our station staff had not reacted after the blackout, then we would have already been forced to deal with the consequences of a nuclear accident,” Zelensky complained in his daily evening address.
“Russia has brought Ukraine and all Europeans to a situation one step before nuclear disaster,” he underlined.
Vladimir Rogov, the Russian-appointed official in the Russian military-controlled city of Enerhodar, blamed Ukrainian forces for a forest fire near the nuclear plant. He added that yesterday the electricity supply was interrupted for many hours in the towns of the region.
“This was caused by the disconnection from the power supply network of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, as a result of the provocations of Zelensky’s fighters,” Rogov complained on Telegram.
“The disconnection itself was caused by a fire and a short circuit in the cables,” he explained.
Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom said this was the first time the nuclear plant had been completely disconnected from the grid.
The UN is trying to gain access to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and has called for the area to be demilitarized.
As Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushenko said Thursday, International Atomic Energy Agency experts may visit the nuclear power plant within the next few days.
Source: RES-MPE
Source: Capital
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