Russian troops are shelling a nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine, and a fire has broken out inside the plant, according to several reports.
Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the town of Energodar, accused Russian forces of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The facility is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and supplies about 25 percent of Ukraine’s electricity, according to the Associated Press.
“As a result of relentless shelling by the enemy of the buildings and blocks of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire!!!” Orlov wrote on Facebook in a post cited by CNN.
“We demand that they stop the heavy-weapons fire,” Orlov said in a video posted on Telegram and cited by the AP. “There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also posted messages on Twitter about the alleged attack.
“Russian soldiers have breached the main building of the Zaporizhzhia nuke plant in Ukraine,” Rubio posted in one tweet. “Active firefight is going on inside a facility that is already on fire and controls 6 reactors. Firefighters unable to fight the fire because they are in the middle of a combat zone.”
Russian soldiers have breached the main building of the #Zaporizhzhia nuke plant in #Ukraine
Active firefight is going on inside a facility that is already on fire and controls 6 reactors
Firefighters unable to fight the fire because they are in the middle of a combat zone
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 4, 2022
Earlier on Thursday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed concerns about the threat of fighting around the Zaporizhzhia power plant.
Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi “appealed for an immediate halt to the use of force at Enerhodar and called on the military forces operating there to refrain from violence near the nuclear power plant,” according to an IAEA statement.
Source: National Review
