Ukraine narrowly escaped disaster on Sunday that rocked Europe’s largest atomic power plant with a barrage of shells, some falling near reactors and damaging a radioactive waste storage building, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said, according to Reuters.
It was not clear which side was responsible for the explosions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which has been under Russian control since soon after it invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Whoever fired on the plant was taking „huge risks and gambling with many people’s live,” said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“We were fortunate a potentially serious nuclear incident did not happen. Next time, we may not be so lucky,” Grossi said late on Sunday in a statement, describing the situation as a “close call”.
Repeated shelling of the plant during the war has raised concern about a grave disaster in the country that suffered the world’s worst nuclear accident, the 1986 Chornobyl meltdown.
The IAEA said the radiation levels remained normal and there were no reports of casualties. While there was no direct impact on nuclear safety and security systems, “the shelling came dangerously close to them”, stated Grossi.
The shelling comes as battles raged further east following troop movements from around Ukraine’s recently recaptured Kherson, further south along the same Dnipro river on which Zaporizhzhia is located.
Russia’s response to its military setbacks has included a barrage of missile strikes, many on power facilities that have left much of the country without electricity as winter sets in and temperatures drop below freezing.
Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine fired shells at power lines supplying the plant. Ukraine’s nuclear energy firm Energoatom said Russia’s military shelled the site, accusing it of nuclear blackmail and actions that were “endangering the whole world”.