A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine Aug. 4, 2022. (REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
KYIV 鈥� Ukraine accused Russia on Sunday of again shelling Europe鈥檚 largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia, and called for new international sanctions on Moscow for 鈥渘uclear terror.鈥�
Ukraine鈥檚 state nuclear power firm said Russian forces damaged three radiation sensors at the facility in renewed shelling on Saturday night, wounding a worker with shrapnel.
鈥淩ussian nuclear terror requires a stronger response from the international community 鈥� sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry and nuclear fuel,鈥� Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
The plant, in Russian-controlled territory, was also shelled on Friday. Moscow blames Ukrainian forces for the strikes.
Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom said the latest Russian rocket attacks hit the plant鈥檚 dry storage facility, where 174 containers with spent nuclear fuel were stored in the open air.
鈥淐onsequently, timely detection and response in the event of a deterioration in the radiation situation or leakage of radiation from containers of spent nuclear fuel are not yet possible,鈥� it said.
In a statement carried by Interfax news agency, the Russian-installed administration of occupied Enerhodar, where the plant鈥檚 employees live, said Ukraine had struck using a 220-mm Uragan multiple rocket launcher system.
鈥淭he administrative buildings and the adjacent territory of the storage facility were damaged,鈥� it said
The head of the (IAEA) had said Friday鈥檚 shelling showed the risk of a nuclear disaster. Those shells hit a high-voltage power line, prompting the plant鈥檚 operators to disconnect a reactor despite no radioactive leak being detected.
The Zaporizhzhia plant was captured by Russian forces in early March in the opening stage of the war but is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
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