What we know about Russia's capture of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex

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March 4th, 2022

Zaporizhzhia russian nuclear plant
A power-generating unit at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the city of Enerhodar, in southern Ukraine, is shown on June 12, 2008. Russian forces pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city by shelling Europe’s largest nuclear plant early Friday, March 4, 2022, sparking a fire and raising fears that radiation could leak from the damaged power station. Plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the facility and had set fire to one of the facility’s six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said. (AP Photo/Olexander Prokopenko, File)

Russian forces have captured a Ukrainian nuclear power plant — the largest in Europe.

Heavy fighting caused a fire to break out near one of the Zaporizhzhia plant’s six reactors, but Ukrainian authorities say the fire has been extinguished. They also say there were many casualties from the fighting around the plant, which started late Thursday.

At a press conference Friday morning, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said the plant’s safety systems are intact. “There has been no release of radioactive material,” Grossi said.

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