Footage from Ukrainian officials and multiple news outlets shows both the inside of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant as Russians attacked this week and missiles being fired at the plant.
A video of the inside of the plant was shared on the Facebook page and Telegram account for Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications.
This video was also obtained by both The New York Times, CNN and The Kyiv Independent, which said it was shared by Energoatom, a state-run Ukrainian energy company.
One man can be seen in the control room of the nuclear power station, the largest in Europe, which is filled with computers and has walls covered in dials. An announcement can be heard through speakers at the plant.
“Stop shooting at a nuclear dangerous facility. Stop shooting immediately! You threaten the security of the whole world! The work of the vital organs of the Zaporizhzhia station may be disrupted. It will be impossible for us to restore it. You are endangering the security of the entire world. Attention! Stop shooting at a nuclear hazardous facility. Stop shooting at a nuclear hazardous facility! Stop shooting at a nuclear hazardous facility! Attention! Stop it!” said the announcement, according to a CNN translation.
Malachy Browne of The New York Times said the video was verified by staffers at the outlet.
Russian Federation forces advanced on the plant Thursday evening and shelled the site, according to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine. There was heavy fighting in the streets of Energodar – the town where the plant is located – said the agency.
As a result of artillery shelling of the Zaporizhzhya site the reactor compartment building unit 1 was damaged. Two artillery shells “hit the area of the dry type spent nuclear fuel storage facility,” and a fire broke out at the site, which damaged a training center building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video to Facebook Friday that showed a missile landing at the plant site.
“Europe must wake up now,” said Zelensky in a video address. “Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is on fire.”
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the fire was put out Friday.
“Operational personnel, who were on shift at the time of the Russian occupation of the [Zaporizhzhya] site, were forced to continue working at their workplaces for more than 24 hours,” said the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine. “There are no killed or injured ones among the ZNPP personnel. Some of the personnel received medical care due to stress.”
As of Friday, unit 1 of the plant was in outage, unit 2 was in operation to ensure the in-house needs, unit 3 was disconnected from the grid for cooldown, unit 4 is in operation and units 5 and 6 were being cooled down.
Operational personnel continue to monitor the state of power units and ensure their operation, said the inspectorate. However, they work “under pressure exercised by the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”
Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine's nuclear power operator Energoatom, said plant management were operating at “gunpoint,” CNN reported.
Changes in the radiation situation in Zaporizhzhia region have not been registered, officials said.
However, Ukrainian and international officials have condemned the attack on Zaporizhzhya and expressed concerns about potential complications.
“I’m extremely concerned about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP and what happened there during the night,” said Director General Rafael Mario Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Firing shells in the area of a nuclear power plant violates the fundamental principle that the physical integrity of nuclear facilities must be maintained and kept safe at all time.”
During his video address, Zelensky urged others in Europe to remember the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in Ukraine. Russians have also taken control of the Chernobyl plant.
Audacy has reached out to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine for more details about the video inside the plant.
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