MOSCOW/KYIV (AFP) -- The Kremlin on Monday accused Ukrainian forces of firing on the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant, warning against potential “catastrophic consequences” for Europe.
“The shelling of the territory of the nuclear plant by the Ukrainian armed forces is a potentially extremely dangerous activity... fraught with catastrophic consequences for a vast area, including the territory of Europe,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He called on Ukraine’s allies “to use their influence to prevent the continuation of such shelling”.
Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for strikes on the atomic power plant, where recent fighting sparked a UN warning of a potential nuclear disaster.
Zaporizhzhia -- Europe’s largest atomic power complex that was occupied by Russia early in its offensive -- has in recent days been the scene of military strikes that have damaged several structures, forcing the shutdown of a reactor.
The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom called on Monday for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to be made a military-free zone, warning of the risk of a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster after the site was hit by shelling.
He called for a team of peacekeepers to be deployed at the site in comments on television.
“The decision that we demand from the world community and all our partners... is to withdraw the invaders from the territory of the station and create a demilitarized zone on the territory of the station,” Petro Kotin said on television.
Russian forces captured the plant in Ukraine’s southeast in early March, shortly after Moscow’s Feb. 24 military operation, but it is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
Kotin flagged the risk of shelling hitting spent nuclear fuel containers as a particular danger.
“If one container of spent nuclear fuel is broken, it will be a local accident in the plant and the surrounding area,” the top nuclear official said.
“If there are two or three containers, it will be much larger. It is impossible to assess the scale of this catastrophe.”
He described the International Atomic Energy Agency’s reaction to the situation at the site over the last five months as “sluggish”, but said there were signs that that was changing.
Kotin said 500 Russian soldiers and 50 pieces of heavy machinery including tanks, trucks and armored infantry vehicles were at the site.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for international inspectors to be given access to the plant.