A fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest of its kind in Ukraine, early Friday after shelling in the area by Russian forces, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukrainian emergency services have confirmed they've managed to put out the fire at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant — a huge relief to everyone in the area and beyond. Ukraine said in the early hours of Friday that a Russian attack on the nuclear plant caused one of the buildings at the plant — a five-story training facility — to catch fire. The plant itself wasn't affected but it was feared that the fire could spread if it wasn't quickly contained. Ukrainian emergency services said initially they were blocked from getting to the scene. But at 05:20 local time, firefighters were finally able to start tackling the fire. "At 06:20 the fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP training building in Enerhodar was extinguished. There are no dead or injured," a statement from the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said. Ukraine's president is urging "immediate action" from the world amid Russian attacks on Europe's largest nuclear plant. "The biggest nuclear power plant in Europe is on fire right now," Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted on Twitter. He accused Russians of deliberately shooting at the Zaporizhzhia plant's six reactors using tanks equipped with thermal imaging. Invoking the "global catastrophe" at Chernobyl in 1986, he warned the consequences of a meltdown at Zaporizhzhia would be far worse. "Europeans, wake up please. Tell your politicians that Russian forces are shooting at the nuclear plant in Ukraine," he begged. Zelensky said he had been in touch with leaders from the US, UK, EU, Germany and Poland, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency, but called on ordinary citizens to raise alarms with their own politicians too. "Russian propaganda has warned in the past that it would cover the world in nuclear ash. Now this isn't just a warning, this is real." Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has just spoken with Ukraine's leader following Russia's attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. He condemned the attacks, calling on them to "cease immediately". — Agencies
