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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains “very risky” after two of its six reactors were reconnected to the grid following shelling that caused Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to be disconnected for the first time in its history. “Let me stress that the situation remains very risky and dangerous,” he said in his regular evening address on Friday, praising Ukrainian experts working to “avert the worst-case scenario.”
Residents near the Zaporizhzhia plant have reportedly been given iodine tablets, amid mounting fears that the fighting around the complex could trigger a catastrophe.
Zelenskiy said the world narrowly avoided a “radiation disaster” on Thursday when electricity to the Zaporizhzhia plant was cut for hours after fires broke out around the Russian-occupied complex in south-eastern Ukraine.
A team of inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog are poised to make an emergency visit to the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to reports. Sources have told the Wall Street Journal it is “almost certain” that a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit the plant early next week, although details are still being completed.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has announced plans to expand mandatory evacuations for civilians living on the war’s frontlines.
