President Zelensky Wants PLTN's Protection Guarantee Zaporizhia From Russia's Sabotase

PLTN Zaporizhia. (Wikimedia Commons/Yellow

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Monday to ensure PLTN Zaporizhia's protection from Russian sabotage.

President Zelensky's insistence on PLTN Zaporizhia's protection was expressed a day after the shooting rocked the PLTN.

"All of our countries are interested in not having any dangerous incidents at our nuclear facilities," President Zelensky said in a video address to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Madrid on Monday.

"We all need protection guarantees from Russian sabotage at nuclear facilities," he added.

Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plants in southern Ukraine were bombarded on Saturday and Sunday, raising concerns about a potential serious accident of just 500 km (300 miles) from Chornobyl, the world's worst nuclear disaster site in 1986.

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the attack on the plant, which is located in Russian-controlled territory near the front lines.

Russia said the shooting of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (PLTN) was at risk of causing a severe nuclear accident, blaming Ukrainian forces immediately denied by Kyiv.

The Kremlin has asked "all countries in the world" to pressure Kyiv to stop the attack, which Ukraine says is Russia's responsibility.

"The plant is at risk of a nuclear accident," said Alexei Likhachev, director general of Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom, as quoted by Interfax.

Fighting reactors at used nuclear fuel factories or fires can send a lump of radionuclide into the air, potentially spreading to large areas of Europe.

"This cannot turn out to cause us concern," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to the shooting.

"We call on all countries in the world to use their influence, so that the Ukrainian armed forces stop doing this," he exclaimed.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine's armed forces fired 11 large-caliber bullets at the plant on Saturday and 12 bullets on Sunday morning, then two more on the power grid.

In contrast, Ukraine's nuclear energy company Energoatom said the Russian military opened fire on the factory. It said there were at least 12 attacks on the facility on Sunday.

Reuters was unable to independently verify which party was responsible for the shooting that weekend.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, said such attacks were at risk of major disasters.

The IAEA said its mission at the plant had reported damage to radioactive waste and storage buildings, cooling pool watering systems, power lines to one of the reactors, condensate storage tanks and bridges between other reactors, as well as supporting buildings.

External power chips are unaffected and radiation levels at the plant remain normal, the IAEA continued.