In the early hours of Friday morning, Ukrainian authorities reported a Russian projectile hit its Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which sparked a fire.
After burning for at least four hours amid reports Russian troops had prevented emergency teams from attending to the blaze, Ukrainian emergency services confirmed they extinguished the blaze at 6:20am local time.
Despite growing fears of a nuclear disaster following the news, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi assured there has been no release of radiation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant following the shelling and that while there was damage to the reactor compartment, the safety of the unit was not affected.
“All the safety systems of the six reactors at the plant were not affected at all and there has been no release of radioactive material,” he explained. “However, as you can imagine, the operator and the regulator...