Russia Attacks Europe's Largest Nuclear Power Plant as War against Ukraine Rages
Russian forces shelled Europe's largest nuclear power plant early Friday, March 4, sparking off a fire as they pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city.
Russian troops reportedly gained ground in their bid to cut off the eastern European country from the sea. Authorities were concerned but they did not panic about the damage to the power station. Biden and Zelenskyy speak on phone The assault, however, triggered a phone call between US president Joe Biden and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Following the attack, the U.S. Department of Energy activated its nuclear incident response team as a precaution. The attack on the eastern city of Enerhodar and its Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant unfolded as the invasion entered its second week, and another round of talks between the two sides yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid. The BBC reported authorities confirmed that the facility was safe and at normal radiation levels. World leaders accused Russia of endangering the safety of an entire continent, and Ukraine's president accused Russia of "nuclear terror". Assault triggers memories of Chernobyl nuclear disaster Zelensky, meanwhile, said Russia wanted a repeat of Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986. "If there is an explosion, it is the end of everything. The end of Europe," he said.
Impact of the military assault According to Ukraine's nuclear inspectorate, buildings around one of the plant's six power units have been damaged without affecting its safety. Workers at the plant said the fire - which has since been extinguished - broke out at a training building outside the plant's perimeter and that only one of the plant's six reactors was operational. Russian president Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West in a live televised address before the invasion of Ukraine, stating that anyone who interfered “will face the consequences greater than any you have faced in history”. World leaders and civilians have feared the threat of nuclear war since the days of the Cold War. Since the Second World War, no country had used nuclear weapons, when former US president Harry Truman dropped bombs on Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
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