US Embassy in Kyiv calls Russia's shelling at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as 'war crime'

An image grab from footage obtained from a livestream from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Authority on Thursday. Pic/ AFP

US Embassy in Kyiv on Friday (local time) said that Russia's shelling of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is a "war crime".

"It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant. Putin's shelling of Europe's largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further. #TheHague #Zaporizhzhia #StandwithUkraine," the Embassy said in a tweet.

However, Russian troops have occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, where a fire that had threatened potential disaster was extinguished in the early hours of Friday morning, said the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi on Friday.

International Atomic Energy Agency has said that two people were injured after a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following heavy shelling from Russian forces.

The plant is the largest of its kind in Ukraine and contains six of the country's 15 nuclear energy reactors, according to IAEA.

Director-General of IAEA Rafael Grossi said that the safety systems of the six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) were not affected by the fire, adding that adding there was no radiation release.

Earlier, IAEA had put its Incident and Emergency Centre (IAEAIEC) in full 24/7 response mode due to the serious situation.

Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that the site of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) had been shelled overnight and Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi immediately spoke with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal as well as the country's national nuclear regulator and operator about the serious situation.

Meanwhile, the fighting has stopped near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on Friday and the radiation levels are currently normal.

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