Russia-Ukraine war: Nuclear plants should never be targeted in military ops, says UN Chief

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has raised concern on Saturday about reports of severe combat near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. UN chief took to Twitter to say that nuclear plants should never be attacked during military operations. Indicating Russia’s special military operation on Ukraine, Guterres said, “I want to make it very clear that nuclear facilities should never ever be targeted in military operations." 

se remarks of UN chief came after Russian military troops captured Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on Friday after an intense gunfight. Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Russian military took control of NPP in early hours of March 4. Furr, a fire broke out outside NPP's training facility, which was put out by 6:20 a.m. (local time), as per Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate (SNRIU). SNRIU also revealed that fire was caused by intense shelling by Russian Army and covered an area of 2,000 square metres.  

According to Ukrainian officials, a projectile has damaged a training facility near one of NPP's reactor units overnight, triggering fire. Furr, as per media reports, plant's six reactors' safety systems were unaffected, and no rioactive material was released. 

US Embassy in Kyiv expressed its dissatisfaction, stating it a 'war crime'

Following attack on NPP, United States and its European allies have called an emergency conference on Ukraine. US Embassy in Kyiv has furr condemned attack on Friday, saying that Russia's bombardment of Zaporizhzhia NPP was a war crime. US Embassy in Kyiv expressed its dissatisfaction with incident in a tweet.  It went on to say that Russian President Vlimir Putin has gone one step furr in his reign of terror by attacking Europe's largest nuclear power plant. 

In dition to this, UN's senior political affairs official told Security Council in an emergency meeting on Friday that fierce fighting which has been disclosed overnight at Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, is both unacceptable and "highly irresponsible," while guaranteeing members that rioactivity levels are normal and facility's cooling system is unaffected. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo stated that every attempt must be me to avoid a catastrophic nuclear accident. 

Furrmore, Mariano Grossi, Director General of IAEA has also joined DiCarlo and volunteered to quickly move to Ukraine to build a framework to ensure safety and security of nation's nuclear facilities. 

Meanwhile, two people were injured, according to IAEA, after fire broke out at nuclear power facility. IAEA furr states that power station is biggest of its kind in world, holding six of nation's 15 nuclear reactors. 

(Image: AP)