Ukraine: Europe's largest nuclear power plant on fire after Russian shelling

Europe's largest nuclear plant is on fire after Russia attacked the power station in the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
expressed concern and urged for the fighting to stop to quell the fire.

Elevated levels of radiation were detected near the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which provides about 25 per cent of the country's power generation. Plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that it is urgent to stop the fighting to put out the flames. 

Enerhodar is a city on the Dnieper River that accounts for one-quarter of the country's power generation.

The IAEA is consulting with Ukraine "and others with a view to provide maximum possible assistance to the country as it seeks to maintain nuclear safety and security in the current difficult circumstances"

Russian forces battled for control of the Ukrainian city that is home to the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe on Thursday and gained ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea, as Ukrainian leaders called on citizens to rise up and wage guerrilla war against the invaders.

A few hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a televised address in which he said that the invasion was "going to plan". Putin said that Russia was removing "neo-Nazis", and said that he will never "give up on (his) conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people".

Meanwhile, during a second round of talks at an undisclosed location, Ukraine and Russia agreed to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. But Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the outcome of the talks had fallen short of Ukraine’s hopes. A third round of talks is set to take place at the start of next week

The fighting at Enerhodar, a city on the Dnieper River that accounts for one-quarter of the country's power generation, came as another round of talks between the two sides yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors inside Ukraine to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid.

While the huge Russian armoured column threatening Kyiv appeared bogged down outside the capital, Putin's forces have brought their superior firepower to bear over the past few days, launching hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites around the country and making significant gains in the south.

The mayor of Enerhodar said Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the city's outskirts. 

Video showed flames and black smoke rising above the city of more than 50,000, with people streaming past wrecked cars, just a day after the UN atomic watchdog agency expressed grave concern that the fighting could cause accidental damage to Ukraine's 15 nuclear reactors.

US President Joe Biden has reportedly contacted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to enquire about the damage caused to the nuclear plant.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on the west to close the skies over the country's nuclear plants as fighting intensified. 

"It is a question of the security of the whole world!" he said in a statement.

The US and NATO allies have ruled out creating a no-fly zone since the move would pit Russian and Western military forces against each other.

Ukrainian leaders called on the people to defend their homeland by cutting down trees, erecting barricades in the cities and attacking enemy columns from the rear. 

In Kyiv, snow gave way to a cold, gray drizzle, as long lines formed outside the few pharmacies and bakeries that remained open. 

More shelling was reported in the northern city of Chernihiv, where emergency officials said at least 33 civilians had been killed in the bombardment of a residential area.

Families with children fled via muddy and snowy roads in the eastern region of Donetsk, while military strikes on the village of Yakovlivka destroyed 30 homes, leaving three people dead, authorities said.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, with about 1.4 million people, residents desperate to escape the bombings crowded the railroad station and squeezed onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed.

In the south, Russian troops appeared to roll from Kherson toward Mykolaiv, another major Black Sea port and shipbuilding centre to the west. 

A US defense official said the Russians may want to set up a base in Mykolaiv ahead of a ground offensive against Odesa, Ukraine's largest port city, which is also home to a large naval base.

The immense Russian column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles still appeared to be stalled roughly 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Kyiv and had made no real progress in days, amid fuel and food shortages, according to US authorities.

Russia has fired more than 480 missiles in the invasion, according to the US Ukrainian officials boasted that their missile-defense systems shot down many of them.

At least 227 civilians have been killed and 525 wounded, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, though it acknowledged that is a vast undercount, and Ukraine said more than 2,000 civilians have died. The figures could not be independently verified.

Russia reported its military casualties Wednesday for the first time in the war, saying nearly 500 of its troops have been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. 

- With inputs from PTI