Kremlin accuses Kyiv of nuclear plant shelling, warns of ‘catastrophic consequences’

MOSCOW: 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.

Meanwhile, Kyiv on Monday called for the establishment of a demilitarised zone around a nuclear power station in east Ukraine where recent fighting with Russian forces has raised fears of a nuclear accident.

"What needs to be done is to remove occupying forces from the station and to create a de-militarised zone on the territory of the station," said Petro Kotin, president of Ukraine’s nuclear energy company, Energoatom.

"The fact that they are there is the greatest danger going forwards, towards an accident with radiation or even to a nuclear catastrophe," he added in a statement distributed by the agency.

Recent fighting at the plant has prompted the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to warn of "the very real risk of a nuclear disaster".

Potin said in the statement that Russia had deployed some 500 Russian troops and 50 pieces of military hardware at Zaporizhzhia and that the situation at the plant marked a "deterioration" over recent days.

"That there should be a peacekeeping mission including experts from the IAEA and other security organisations. Their presence and initially giving control to them and then to the Ukrainian side would have solved this problem," he added.

The Kremlin on Monday accused Ukrainian forces of firing on the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant, warning of potential "catastrophic consequences" for Europe.

Ukraine earlier accused Russian forces of firing rockets at the facility. Kyiv last month said Russian forces were storing heavy weapons at the plant.

Earlier, any attack on a nuclear plant is "suicidal", United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday after fresh shelling hit a huge atomic power complex in southern Ukraine.

Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for the latest strike at the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power site, which has been under Russian control since the early days of the war.

The fighting on Friday at the plant has prompted the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to warn of "the very real risk of a nuclear disaster". At a press conference in Tokyo, Guterres condemned such attacks without saying either side was responsible.

"We support the IAEA on their efforts in relation to create the conditions of stabilisation of that plant," he said. "Any attack to a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing. I hope that those attacks will end, and at the same time I hope that the IAEA will be able to access the plant."

His comments followed a visit to Hiroshima over the weekend, where Guterres gave a speech to mark the 77th anniversary of the world’s first nuclear bomb attack.

In the Japanese city on Saturday, he warned that "humanity is playing with a loaded gun" as crises with the potential for nuclear disaster proliferate worldwide, from Ukraine to the Middle East and the Korean peninsula.