A screenshot from a video released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on August 11, 2024. A fire broke out on Sunday at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, located in southern Ukraine, as Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the incident.
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Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for a major fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine on Sunday, the latest incident to come amid a Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory.
Ukrainian officials said Russian forces started the fire at the plant, which has been occupied since March 2022, while the Kremlin-appointed governor of Zaporizhzhia said Ukrainian shelling was to blame.
The occupied nuclear power plant has been a frequent flashpoint between Ukraine and Russia, with both countries repeatedly accusing each other of carrying out high-risk drone and artillery attacks on or near the plant, endangering the safety of the facility and risking a nuclear disaster.
In the latest flare-up, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of starting a fire at the ZNPP in the town of Enerhodar, but said local radiation levels were normal.
“As long as Russian terrorists control the nuclear power plant, the situation will not and cannot be normal. Since the first day of the seizure of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Russia has used this place only to blackmail Ukraine, all of Europe and the world,” Zelenskyy said.
A view of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on June 15, 2023.
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The Russian-appointed governor of Zaporizhzhia has disputed this claim, claiming in a Google-translated social media update that Ukrainian shelling was responsible for the fire at the facility, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Posted on TelegramYevgeny Balitsky said an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed into one of the plant’s cooling towers and caught fire, adding that emergency services in the area located and extinguished the blaze.
“The Ukrainian regime, with the support of NATO managers, is systematically shelling the entire northern part of the Zaporizhia region, where UAVs, long-barreled guns and mortars can reach. But all measures are being taken to localize the consequences of these attacks,” Balitsky said.
He said he had met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had “clearly expressed increased vigilance and attention to strategic infrastructure, including nuclear power plants”.
Neither side provided evidence for their claims. CNBC was unable to verify their reports.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrive at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on June 15, 2023.
Olga Maltseva | AFP | Getty Images
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has maintained a rotating team of inspectors at the Zaporizhzhia site to maintain safety protocols, said in a statement on Sunday X That evening, experts witnessed “dense black smoke” rising from the northern area of the plant, following “multiple explosions” throughout the evening.
The UN nuclear watchdog said it was informed of an alleged drone attack early Sunday on one of the cooling towers. The IAEA said there was currently no impact on nuclear safety.
Outburst of anger
Tensions between Moscow and Kyiv have increased further in recent days, following an attack by Ukrainian forces on Russia’s Kursk border region.
The border raid began last Tuesday and appeared to have caught Moscow by surprise, with the Russian Defense Ministry revising its initial estimate and saying last Thursday that about 1,000 troops and numerous tanks and armored vehicles were involved in the offensive.
On Sunday, an unnamed senior Ukrainian security official told AFP news agency that “thousands” of soldiers were involved in the campaignmarks an attempt to “stretch” and “destabilize” Russia. CNBC could not verify the report.
Screenshot from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry shows Russian forces conducting a missile attack, targeting military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area near Kursk Oblast, Russia on August 8, 2024.
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About 3,000 people have been evacuated from the area amid ongoing drone and missile attacks in Ukraine, according to Acting Regional Governor Alexei Smirnov. He posted on Telegram on Monday that the threat of UAV attacks continues, declaring overnight that “Russian air defense forces and means have been put on alert to repel a possible attack”.
As a result, Kyiv’s offensive disrupted Russia’s summer offensive in eastern Ukraine, forcing Moscow to redeploy forces to Kursk.
Over the past week, Russian defense officials have claimed that their side has stopped the Ukrainian advance on Kursk, while geolocated footage and Russian military bloggers have claimed that Ukrainian troops are present in areas as far as 35 kilometers from Russia. according to analysis by the research organization Institute for the Study of War.
Ukrainian servicemen drive a Soviet-made T-64 tank in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on August 11, 2024, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On August 11, Russia admitted that Ukrainian troops had advanced deep into the Kursk border region in an offensive that a senior Ukrainian official said was aimed at “destabilizing” Russia and “stretching” its forces.
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ISW noted that the Ukrainian operation at Kursk allowed Ukrainian forces to at least temporarily seize the initiative on the battlefield in part of the front line.
“Russia’s hold on the full theater initiative since November 2023 has allowed Russia to determine the location, timing, scale, and requirements of fighting in Ukraine and forced Ukraine to commit materiel and manpower to reactive defensive operations,” ISW said.
“Ukrainian campaign in Kursk Oblast [region]However, it forced the Kremlin and the Russian military command to react and redeploy forces and equipment to the area where the Ukrainian forces launched the attack.”
ISW said Putin and the Russian military command “may have mistakenly assessed that Ukraine was incapable of opposing this initiative”.
This photo released by acting Governor of the Kursk region Alexei Smirnov via telegram on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, shows a house damaged after shelling by the Ukrainian side in the city of Sudzha, Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
Governor of Kursk region telegram via AP
Ukraine remains silent about its latest activity on the Russian border. Kursk To be one of several border areas that have experienced smaller, shorter incursions and more frequent drone and artillery attacks by Ukraine in recent months.
Russia and Ukraine say they are not targeting civilian areas.
However, President Zelenskyy acknowledged the raid on Sunday, referring to Ukraine’s “pushing of war into the territory of the aggressor”.
Zelenskyy said he was grateful to the Ukrainian units “who ensured this” and that “Ukraine is proving that it is really capable of bringing justice and ensuring exactly the kind of pressure that is needed — pressure on the aggressor.”
