Smoke Observed at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia NPP: Russia

Smoke has been seen billowing out of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the largest nuclear plant in Europe, as a result of Ukraine’s shelling, Russian defense ministry claimed today.

As a result of the alleged Ukrainian shelling on August 7, the Kakhovskaya high-voltage line was damaged - it provided electricity to the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Kyiv has refuted these allegations and has blamed Russia for the damages.

“A power surge occurred at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which caused smoke on the open switchgear of the station. The protection system also worked, turning off the power supply,” Igor Konashenkov, Russian MoD spokesman, said at a press briefing today.

The fire brigades that arrived at the station managed to eliminate the smoke. In order not to disrupt the operation of the nuclear power plant, the plant personnel reduced the power of the 5th and 6th power units to 500 MW, Konashenkov stated further.

The official defense ministry representative added that the shelling was carried out yesterday by Ukrainian units of the 44th artillery brigade at about 12:40. It was conducted from the area of ​​​​the settlement of Marganets on the opposite bank of the Kakhovka reservoir.

Russian media outlets have reported that Yevgeniy Balitsky, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhia region has signed a decree providing for a referendum on joining Russia.

“Based on the principle of free choice, taking the opinion of every resident of our region as the main value, we declare our intention to hold a referendum on the entry of the Zaporizhia region into the Russian Federation as a full-fledged subject. We are one people and we will be together,” Russia’s state-controlled TASS news agency quoted the resolution on the referendum as saying.

The UN has for international inspectors to be given access to the power station after it was hit by shelling at the weekend, raising fears of a possible nuclear disaster.