NATO head Jens Stoltenberg on Friday slammed Russia's "recklessness" over the shelling of a nuclear power plant in Ukraine and demanded Moscow stop the war against its neighbour. Russia says it has seized control of the Zaporizhzhia site.
"Overnight we have also seen reports about the attack against the nuclear power plant.
"This just demonstrates the recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it and the importance of Russia withdrawing all its troops and engaging good faith in diplomatic efforts," Stoltenberg said ahead of a meeting with Western foreign ministers.
Russian forces seized control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant in the early hours of Friday after a battle with Ukrainian troops that caused a fire and fears of a catastrophic accident.
The Ukrainian nuclear regulator said that the fire had been extinguished and no radiation leak had been detected, with site staff still able to work at the Zaporizhzhia site.
"The Zaporizhzhia NPP site has been seized by the military forces of the Russian Federation," the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine said, in a statement.
The IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi told the press on Friday that the safety of the reactors was not compromised and two people, not connected to the site had been injured.
The power station is located in southern Ukraine on the Dnipro river and produces a fifth of the country's electricity.
'Give us planes'
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of resorting to "nuclear terror" by risking a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster and begged world leaders to back Kyiv.
"No country other than Russia has ever fired on nuclear power units," he said in a video message released by his office.
"This is the first time in our history. In the history of mankind. The terrorist state now resorted to nuclear terror."
Zelensky alleged that the Russian troops had knowingly fired on the nuclear facility.
"These are tanks equipped with thermal imagers, so they know where they are shooting," said Zelensky.
On Thursday Zelensky called on the West to up its military assistance, after NATO members ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone for fear of igniting a direct war with nuclear-armed Russia.
"If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes!" Zelensky told a news conference.
"If we are no more then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next," he said, adding that direct talks with Putin were "the only way to stop this war".
The EU has offered fighter jets already, and a source in Berlin said the German government was planning to deliver another 2,700 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine.
Memories of Chernobyl
Ukraine's nuclear facilities have been a major point of concern since Russia's military invaded the country last week and began bombarding cities with shells and missiles.
Any fire in a nuclear plant revives memories of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, also in Ukraine, which left hundreds dead and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe.
Of the six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the agency said, one is in operation and producing power, one has been turned off and four are being cooled to prevent overheating.
The regulator did not say, however, what each reactor's status had been before the fire.
An on site inspection is being carried out by Ukrainian staff.
(with Wires)
