Volodymyr Zelensky said there was “global interest” in pressuring Vladimir Putin to give up control of Europe’s largest nuclear facility in south-eastern Ukraine, which Russia seized soon after it sparked war by invaded its neighbour in February.
“Russia once again broke the bottom in the world history of terrorism,” he said last night. “No one else has used a nuclear plant so obviously to threaten the whole world.”
Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the attacks on the plant, which is held by Russian troops and operated by Ukrainian workers.
Russia’s United Nations ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told an emergency Security Council meeting on Thursday night “Kyiv’s criminal attacks on nuclear infrastructure are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe”.
He accused Ukrainian armed forces in recent days of repeatedly using heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems to shell the Zaporizhzhia plant, including with strikes yesterday.
His Ukrainian counterpart, Sergiy Kyslytsya, accused Russia of using “elaborate plans of deceit, sabotage and cover-ups” to stage the shelling at Zaporizhzhia, which poses “an unprecedented threat to nuclear security for Ukraine, to Europe and the world as a whole”.
The Ukrainian state company operating the plant, Enerhoatom, had reported renewed Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia facility and nearby buildings yesterday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely concerned” about the situation unfolding at the plant following reports of shelling and explosions at the facility in recent days.
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“Instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster,” Mr Guterres said in a statement. “I am calling for all military activities in the immediate vicinity of the plant to cease immediately and not to target its facilities or surroundings.”
The UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi warned “very alarming” military activity at Europe’s largest nuclear plant could lead to dangerous consequences for the region.
Mr Grossi urged Russia and Ukraine to immediately allow nuclear experts to assess damage and evaluate safety and security at the sprawling nuclear complex where the situation “has been deteriorating very rapidly”.
Meanwhile, the UK on Friday said blasts at the Kremlin-operated Saki military air base in western Crimea has “significantly degraded” the Russian navy’s Black Sea aviation fleet.
“The incident will likely prompt the Russian military to revise its threat perception,” officials said, adding Crimne had probably been seen by Russia as a “secure rear-area” in the near-six-month war.
