Russia says it could shut Ukraine nuke plant; Kyiv says it's disaster risk

ZAPORIZHZHIA (Ukraine) • Russia said yesterday it could shut down Europe's largest nuclear power plant after it came under shelling at the front lines in Ukraine, a move Kyiv said would increase the risk of a nuclear catastrophe there.

The warning came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after talks with visiting UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres that the United Nations must ensure the security of the plant.

Moscow also rejected international calls for a demilitarised zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which it seized early in the war and which is still operated by Ukrainian engineers under Russian occupation.

The power station sits on the Russian-controlled south bank of a huge reservoir; Ukrainian forces hold the north bank.

Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of planning to shut the plant to sever it from Ukraine's power grid and switch it on to Russia's - effectively stealing its output.

Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom said shutting down the plant would increase the risk of "a radiation disaster".

Amid the tensions surrounding the plant, dozens of Ukrainian emergency workers wearing gas masks and hazmat suits took part in a drill in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday.

"Nobody could have predicted that Russian troops would be firing on nuclear reactors with tanks. It is incredible," Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said after watching the drill.

He said Ukraine should be prepared since "as long as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is controlled by Russia, there are major risks".

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE