Renewed shelling threatens key Ukrainian nuclear plant

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Powerful explosions shook Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, the site of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, the global nuclear watchdog said Sunday, calling for “urgent measures to help prevent a nuclear accident” in the Russian-occupied facility.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said two explosions — one Saturday evening and another Sunday morning — near the Zaporizhzhia plant abruptly ended a period of relative calm around the nuclear facility that has been the site of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

Fears of a nuclear catastrophe have been at the forefront since Russian troops occupied the plant during the early days of the war. Continued fighting has raised the specter of a disaster.

In renewed shelling both close to and at the site, IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia facility reported hearing more than a dozen blasts within a short period Sunday morning and could see some explosions from their windows, the statement said.

Several buildings, systems and equipment at the power plant — none of them critical for the plant's nuclear safety — were damaged in the shelling, the IAEA said, citing the plant’s management.

Still, Grossi said reports of the shelling were “extremely disturbing.” He added: “Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately.

“As I have said many times before, you’re playing with fire!” Grossi said, and appealed to both sides to urgently implement a nuclear safety and security zone around the facility.

Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s power grid and other key infrastructure from the air, causing widespread blackouts for millions of Ukrainians amid frigid weather. That has left Ukrainians without heat, power or water as snow...