Russia takes control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting due to the Russian attack on the Zaporivia nuclear power plant.

The Zaporivia nuclear power plant, the largest on the European continent, was bombed in the early hours of the morning by Russian forces, as confirmed by the Ukrainian authorities.

With the purpose of requesting help, the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, held a telephone conversation with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and with the President of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson.

According to Ukraine's nuclear authorities, the Russian military took control of the nuclear power plant, although the plant's workers remain in their jobs.

So far, no human casualties or material damage have been reported. In addition, a radioactive leak was ruled out.

As can be seen in the security cameras of the nuclear power plant, a projectile hit an administrative office of the plant, at the same time that the rest of the facilities were being fired.

This caused a fire which led to the disconnection of one of the reactors. Due to the damage caused by the shelling, it took a few minutes for firefighters to enter the plant to extinguish the fire.

On the other hand, Dmitro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, has pointed out that, if the Zaporivia nuclear plant were to explode, the catastrophe would be ten times worse than that of Chernobyl in 1986.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assured that the fire generated in the nuclear power plant failed to affect the main reactors of the plant.

In the burned administrative building, which has five floors, the fire completely consumed floors three, four and five. According to the authorities, the flames managed to extinguish.

Zelensky says Russia wants to repeat Chernobyl

The first to issue a warning was the spokesman for the nuclear power plant, Andrei Tuz, who in the official Telegram account assured that, after the Russian bombardment, a fire broke out and firefighters could not access the site.

The nuclear plant is in the city of Energodar and the mayor of the town, Dmitro Orlov, assured that the Ukrainian soldiers were trying to defend the reactors from the Russian forces. However, the Ukrainian units suffered casualties and forced them back.

The Ukrainian energy company, Energoatom, has warned that the winds from the plant are heading southeast, as far as the cities of Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar in Russia.

In a video issued by the Ukrainian presidency, the president, Volodimir Zelensky, denounced that the Russian bombing of the nuclear plant is aimed at repeating the Chernobyl catastrophe.

In addition, he reported that no other country in history had fired at nuclear power plants, "now Russia is the exception."

In this context, Zelensky assures that Putin and the "Russian terrorist state" seek to sow terror and panic by bombing nuclear plants.

So far they have not issued any comment on the matter from Moscow.

The largest nuclear plant on the continent

With six of the fifteen reactors in operation throughout Ukraine, the Zaporizhia nuclear plant is the main supplier of energy to the entire nation. In addition, it is the largest in all of Europe.

It began operations in 1985, when the Soviet Union was still in force, a year before the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, a nuclear plant that is currently under Russian control.

Prior to the early morning bombing, the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) had issued a resolution condemning Russia for forcibly occupying the Chernobyl plant.

This resolution also talks about the attempt to take Zaporizhia, during the first days of the Russian invasion.

According to the IAEA Board of Governors, the actions of the Russian army represent a "serious and direct threat" to the safety of nuclear plants, workers and the environment.