Two cooling towers are pictured on the premises of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Image: ABACA/PA Images Two cooling towers are pictured on the premises of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Image: ABACA/PA Images Updated 32 minutes ago
Their forces have clashed at and around Zaporizhzhia, leading to urgent international calls for an end to fighting around the plant. “The United States calls for the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine’s territory,” Jenkins said. “This would allow for Ukraine to restore the impeccable safety, security, and safeguards performance it upheld for decades at the facility.”
The two sides have traded blame over a recent escalation in fighting around the nuclear facility, which was captured by Russian forces soon after their invasion.Russia – a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power – called for the emergency meeting to address the crisis at the complex.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the international community to “react immediately” to force Russian forces to leave the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom said today there had been fresh Russian shelling near one of the plant’s six reactors that had caused “extensive smoke” and “several radiation sensors are damaged”. The Soviet-era plant in southern Ukraine was captured by Russian troops at the beginning of March — shortly after Moscow launched its invasion and has remained on the frontline since then.