Russian military forces have seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s southeast, a local authority said on Friday, after a fire there started by Russian artillery shelling was extinguished.

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Emergency services in Ukraine have said that they have extinguished a fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant of Zaporizhzhia.

“At 06:20 [04:20 GMT] the fire in the training building of Zaporizhzhia NPP in Energodar was extinguished. There are no victims,” the emergency services said in a statement on Facebook.

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Ukrainian authorities later said the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is now secured, after a fire broke out at a training building when the complex came under fire from Russian forces.

Ukraine earlier said Russian forces had attacked the plant and a five-storey training facility building next to it was on fire.

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Though worrying, the fact that the fire was put out extinguishes fears that the damage to the power plant could have resulted in a major nuclear disaster.

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In a statement early Friday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the targeting of the nuclear power plant was no accident.

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“Russian tanks are equipped with thermal imagers, they know where to shoot,” Zelensky said in a video address.

“This is the first time in the history of mankind that a state has resorted to nuclear terror,” the President said, noting that no one has ever fired on nuclear power stations before.

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In fact, according to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, a nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia would be 10 times worse than what happened in Chernobyl. A nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia plant would spell catastrophe for all of Europe, he continued.

“If there is an explosion, it's the end of everything,” Zelensky said. “Do not allow Europe to die from this catastrophe.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks, while calling for more international support. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have agreed to a tentative plan to create humanitarian corridor.

Also read: 'You know the word Chernobyl': Ukraine Prez Zelensky on Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia N-plant

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