Russian forces have seized the Ukrainian nuclear power plant where a fire was extinguished early on Friday, raising international alarm over Moscow’s warfare after another night of devastating shelling.
World leaders condemned the “reckless” assault on the Zaporizhzhia plant in south-eastern Ukraine, which damaged a building at Europe’s largest nuclear facility by capacity as the site was brought under Russian control.
The blaze was put out without spreading, no nuclear reactors or essential equipment was damaged, and radiation levels are normal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The plant’s Ukrainian staff are continuing to run the facility and safety systems are functioning.
But Ukrainian authorities, who blamed the fire on Russian shelling, warned of the continuing risks to operating the plant in battlefield conditions. Russia’s defence ministry, meanwhile, accused Ukrainian forces of starting the fire and staging a “monstrous provocation”.
The incident came after another brutal bombardment of Ukraine’s urban centres, including a ruinous siege of the port city of Mariupol, whose population of almost half a million is lacking food, water and electricity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office warned on Friday of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” and said that it had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross for help in evacuating civilians and delivering emergency aid from areas hit by the war.
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As global concern grew, Nato discussed the potential of a no-fly zone in Ukraine but agreed that it should not be undertaken, the alliance’s secretary general said.
“Allies agree that we should not have Nato planes operating in Ukrainian airspace or Nato troops on Ukrainian territory,” Jens Stoltenberg said after a crisis meeting with foreign ministers from the 30 Nato allies in Brussels. Kyiv has called on Nato to establish a no-fly zone over the conflict zone.
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russia has “no ill intentions” towards its neighbours but added: “I would also advise them not to escalate the situation, not to impose any restrictions.”
In comments made via video link during a ceremony in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, he acknowledged that punitive sanctions imposed by western powers were harming Russia, but said it would adapt. “In the end, we will only gain advantages from this, since . . . we will acquire additional skills.”
The grim developments on the ninth night of war sparked a sharp reaction in stock markets. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 gauge was down 2.2 per cent in mid-morning trade, as was London’s FTSE 100. Futures markets indicated that US equities would drop later in the day. The moves came after Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 2.5 per cent lower.
Global commodity prices are on track for the biggest weekly rally in more than five decades as Russia’s invasion spurs sharp gains for grains, metals and energy prices. Wheat futures closed up almost 22 per cent at a 14-year high of $12.89 a bushel.
At Zaporizhzhia, four of the plant’s six reactors were being cooled down under safe operating procedures, Ukraine’s nuclear inspectorate said. But the watchdog warned that impeding its ability to cool down power units could lead to “significant radioactive releases”, and noted a spent nuclear fuel storage facility on the site would also be vulnerable to shelling.
Oleksandr Kharchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian energy minister, said the biggest risk came from a potential disruption to the plant’s power supply and back-up generators. “If these, too, are cut, that would affect the reactor cooling system,” he added. “If that is damaged, no one can predict the consequences.”
He said Russian troops controlled all the entry points to the site, adding: “We can’t send our people in without their permission.”
Invoking the “global catastrophe” of Chernobyl in 1986, Zelensky contacted half a dozen world leaders in the early hours of Friday, accusing Russia of deliberately targeting the reactors. Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, condemned Putin’s “reckless actions” while Justin Trudeau of Canada called for the “horrific attacks” to cease immediately.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he wanted to visit Chernobyl as soon as possible and agree a framework with Russia and Ukraine to avoid further attacks on plants.
Noting the threat fighting poses to the country’s four nuclear stations and the shut-down Chernobyl plant, Grossi said: “I am extremely concerned that the situation is very fragile and unstable.”
The fire followed a day during which the cities of Chernihiv and Kharkiv were also subjected to relentless Russian bombardment.
“Russia is . . . trying to cause maximum damage to Ukrainian critical infrastructure, civilian infrastructure, and ordinary people,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, adding Moscow was deliberately violating “all conventions, laws and rules of war”.
Military analysts said the main objective of Russian troops remained the encirclement of the capital, Kyiv, an advance that western officials say has made little discernible progress for several days because of tactical and logistical failures.
Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, came under fierce bombardment this week. In Mariupol, officials said the city was completely encircled by Russian troops who were shelling the town heavily, and residents were living without power, water, internet access or heat in sub-zero winter temperatures.
“I feel like the Russians are planning to just smash the city and destroy it — to occupy it, not take the city — just destroy it,” said Diana Berg, a resident who fled from there this week.
Berg said the shelling had hit civilian buildings including residential blocks, schools and a neonatal hospital.
“The most terrifying thing was being without any communication at all, and with no power, no electricity, no heat and no water,” she added. “I know Kharkiv and Kyiv are suffering too, but they still have connections to tell about it.”
During a second round of talks on Thursday, Russia and Ukraine delegations agreed to set up civilian evacuation routes out of Ukrainian cities hit by the war. However, the negotiations ended without a ceasefire agreement.
Putin appeared on state television to say he would “never give up [his] conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people”, adding that Russia’s troops were fighting “heroically”.
Stepping up its attempts to hobble the Russian economy, the US issued new sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs and their families, as well as the Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
But the White House rejected bipartisan calls to ban Russian oil imports into the US, saying an embargo would limit global supply and raise prices for consumers.
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