Editor's note: The article was corrected to clarify that according to Ukrainian authorities, Russia started the fire by setting tires ablaze in a cooling tower rather than by shelling.
The fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, reportedly started by Russia the day before, has been extinguished, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Serhii Lysak said on Aug. 12.
The previous day, Yevhen Yevtushenko, the head of the military administration in Nikopol, said that Russian forces set fire to tires inside a cooling tower, causing a blaze to break out.
"Perhaps this is a provocation or an attempt to create panic in the settlements on the right bank of the former reservoir," Yevtushenko said at the time.
In a Telegram message at 7:30 a.m. local time, Lysak said the fire at the plant had been put out and that radiation levels in the area were normal.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to hold Russia accountable for the provocation.
"As long as Russian terrorists retain control of the nuclear power plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal," Zelensky said in a Telegram post on Aug. 11.
"We are waiting for the world's reaction, waiting for the IAEA's reaction."
The ZNPP, Europe's largest nuclear power station, has been under Russian occupation since March 2022. Its position near the front line has led to heightened nuclear safety risks throughout Russia's full-scale war.
Kateryna Hodunova
(Updated: )
