ENERHODAR (dpa-AFX) – The Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko has called for NATO intervention in the face of reports of a fire at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. “That’s why we demand not only a professional assessment of what is happening, but real intervention with the toughest measures, including by NATO and the countries that have nuclear weapons,” Halushchenko wrote on Facebook on Friday night.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was being attacked by tanks and from the air, he wrote. These statements could not initially be checked independently. Halushchenko wrote that he had already called US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and asked for the airspace over Ukraine to be closed. “We stand on the brink of a major technological catastrophe in human history.”
Granholm confirmed the call with her Ukrainian counterpart on Twitter. “Russian military operations near the power plant are ruthless and must stop,” the US Secretary of Energy wrote there. The reactors of the power plant are protected and will now be shut down safely./haw/DP/zb