'You're playing with fire' warns UN over shelling at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has called for an end to fighting around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, after powerful explosions were recorded in the area over the weekend.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that two explosions – one on Saturday and the other Sunday morning – near the Zaporizhzhia plant had abruptly ended a period of relative calm around the Russian-occupied nuclear facility.

Monitors from the IAEA team at the facility reported hearing more than a dozen blasts within a short period Sunday morning. Some of the explosions were visible from their windows.

Several buildings, systems and equipment at the power plant were damaged, the IAEA said in a statement, but nothing so far "critical for nuclear safety and security". There were no reports of casualties. 

However, Grossi described the reports of shelling as "extremely disturbing" and made an urgent appeal for a stop to the fighting.

"Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately," he said. "You're playing with fire!"

Fears of a catastrophe at Europe's largest nuclear facility have been at the forefront since Russian troops occupied the plant shortly after invading Ukraine on 24 February.

Trading blame

Russia and Ukraine accuse one another of the shelling.

Kyiv "does not stop its provocations aiming at creating the threat of a man-made catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant", the Russian army said in a statement on Sunday. 

Despite the shelling, radiation levels "remain normal", the army added.

Ukrainian nuclear energy agency Energoatom said shortly after that Russia was behind the explosions.

"This morning on November 20, 2022, as a result of numerous Russian shelling, at least 12 hits were recorded on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," Energoatom said.

It accused Russia of "once again... putting the whole world at risk".

Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame for months over shelling near the facility, sparking fears of a nuclear disaster and spurring calls to de-militarise areas around atomic facilities in Ukraine.

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Grossi reiterated calls for the two warring sides to agree to implement a nuclear safety and security zone around the plant as soon as possible.

"I'm not giving up until this zone has become a reality," he said. "As the ongoing apparent shelling demonstrates, it is needed more than ever."

(with newswires)