DEVELOPING: Russian artillery fire is blasting Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant, sparking a fire, hours after international atomic regulators warned combat at the facility could wreak havoc, according to Ukraine authorities.
Video posted to Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, early Friday local time appeared to show a projectile landing outside the facility, creating a large fireball. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, tweeted that Russian forces were “firing from all sides” on the facility.
“Fire has already broken out,” he wrote – a claim that appears to be supported by grainy Livestream video. “If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chernobyl.” “As a result of continuous enemy shelling of buildings and units of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe,
the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire,” Orlov said on his Telegram channel, citing what he called a threat to world security. He did not give details. Reuters could not immediately verify the information, including the potential seriousness of any fire.
The invasion of Ukraine is entering its ninth day. Thousands are thought to have died or been wounded as the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two unfolds, creating 1 million refugees, hits to Russia’s economy, and fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.
