Estonian president, PM condemn Ukrainian nuclear power plant attack

Alar Karis and Kaja Kallas at a press conference.
Alar Karis and Kaja Kallas at a press conference. Source: Ken Mürk/ERR

Estonia's president and prime minister have condemned Russia's attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant calling it reckless.

Early on Friday morning, the Russian army shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, the largest nuclear plant of its kind in Europe. This caused a fire to break out in a training building outside the plant, Ukrainian authorities said.

President Alar Karis wrote on social media there is no need to add a nuclear disaster to the ongoing war.

"President Putin, stop [this] insanity, stop [the] war, do not add a nuclear disaster to the ongoing military and human tragedy! My deepest admiration for the brave Ukrainian firefighters," he said.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called the attack "next-level brutality".

"The shelling of Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant in Ukraine is next-level brutality in Putin's war. I condemn this in the strongest terms. Attacking nuclear facilities is a criminal act to terrorize the public. Russia must stop and ensure proper nuclear safety now," she wrote.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the attack a "completely new level of irresponsible terror", adding: "Ramifications of nuclear disaster would be disastrous for everyone. Attacks in that area and in all of Ukraine must be stopped immediately."

In normal times the plant produces one-fifth of Ukraine's electricity and almost half the energy generated by the country's nuclear power facilities, the UK's Guardian newspaper wrote.

Lithuania's Radiation Protection Centre said no change in radiation level had been recorded, public broadcaster LRT reported on Friday morning.

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Editor: Helen Wright

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