4:45 a.m .: The situation at the nuclear power plant is under control
After several tense hours, the situation is reassuring at the Zaporozhye NPP in southern Ukraine. Russian soldiers who fired on the building and caused a fire in an administrative building near an (inactive) reactor finally allowed Ukrainian firefighters to enter the site at 5:20 a.m. (4:20 p.m. Paris time), the services said. emergency.
Earlier, the head of the military administration of the Zaporozhye region said that security was “guaranteed”: “The director of the plant said that nuclear security is now guaranteed. According to factory officials, the training building and laboratory were affected by the fire.
The battles broke out shortly after midnight (Paris time). During a live broadcast from a factory camera, what looked like flares were seen falling near the plant and then clearing smoke. But Russian artillery appears to have hit the administration building.
The plant, which is the most powerful in Europe, supplies 20% of Ukraine’s electricity. Authorities said the reactor near the fire was inactive. However, it contains nuclear fuel and therefore a leak is possible. On the other hand, melting of the reactor core, as in Chernobyl, is unlikely.