Fire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant extinguished, Russia, Ukraine exchange blame

The fire that erupted at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant over the weekend has been extinguished, Russian state media reported on Monday while citing Russia’s nuclear energy agency Rosatom. But both Moscow and Kyiv continue to point the blame at each other as concerns over a nuclear meltdown remain high. 

Russian forces have illegally occupied Europe’s largest nuclear power plant for more than two years and on Sunday, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it had been informed that an alleged drone attack hit one of the plant’s cooling towers.

Moscow accused Ukrainian forces of striking the cooling tower with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) just hours after Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of the Russian space agency turned Kremlin representative in Zaporizhzhia, was said to have been at the nuclear power plant, sources at East2West told Fox News Digital. 

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It remains unclear why Rogozin – who has paid special interest to the use of UAVs and UAGs [unmanned ground vehicles] in Ukraine – was at the plant.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in turn, accused Russian forces of setting fire to the plant in a Sunday night post on X, formerly Twitter, and said Moscow has been using the security of the nuclear plant to “blackmail” not only Ukraine – but “all of Europe, and the world.”

“We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the IAEA to react. Russia must be held accountable for this,” Zelenskyy said. “Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety.”

An infographic titled, “Fire breaks out in Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant” created in Ankara, Turkey, on Aug. 12, 2024. (Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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The IAEA confirmed late on Sunday that its experts had witnessed “thick dark smoke coming from the north-western area of the plant, after hearing multiple explosions throughout the evening.”

The IAEA and Zelenskyy confirmed that there was “no impact on nuclear safety” following the fire and that radiation levels remained normal.

The nuclear watchdog did not say who attacked the cooling tower and instead condemned the threat that continuous attacks in the area pose to the plant.

“Reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

Director-General Rafael Grossi speaks at a press conference during the IAEA Board of Governors meeting on March 6, 2023, in Vienna, Austria. (Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images)

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The IAEA said it has requested immediate access to the cooling tower to “ascertain the extent and possible cause of this event.”

But it remains unclear if access was permitted.