Global outcry trails Russia’s seizure of Ukrain nuclear plant

Russian forces have seized the largest nuclear plant in Europe, according to Ukrainian authorities.

It comes hours after a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia plant following a Russian attack.

The fire has since been extinguished, and officials say the site is safe
Western powers have condemned Russia for what they called a “horrific” and “reckless” act.

And Ukrainian President Zelensky says the attack could have caused “six Chernobyls.”

Officials said the fire at the Zaporizhzhia compound was in a training centre and not at the plant itself. An official at Energoatom, the state enterprise that runs Ukraine’s four nuclear plants, said there was no further fighting, the fire was out, radiation was normal and Russian forces were in control.

“Personnel are on their working places providing normal operation of the station,” the official told Reuters in a message.

He said his organisation no longer had communication with the plant’s managers, control over the radiation situation there or oversight of potentially dangerous nuclear material in its six reactors and about 150 containers of spent fuel.

Russia’s defence ministry also said the plant was working normally. It blamed the fire on a “monstrous attack” by Ukrainian saboteurs and said its forces were in control.

Meanwhile, the strategic port city of Mariupol has been under consistent attack
And at least 47 people were killed by Russian air strikes in the northern city of Chernihiv on Thursday, Ukraine says.

Russia has so far seized one city – Kherson in southern Ukraine.

It invaded its neighbour on three fronts – the north, east, and south – and fighting is continuing around Ukraine.

With BBC report