A chilling nuclear scare: Biggest atomic plant in Europe attacked

Russian invasion forces seized Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant on Friday in what Washington called a reckless assault that risked catastrophe, although a blaze in a training building was extinguished and officials said the facility was now safe.

Russia’s defence ministry, on its part, blamed the attack at the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a “monstrous provocation”. The United Nations Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting late Friday night over the attack on the nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Combat raged elsewhere in Ukraine as Russian forces surrounded and bombarded several cities in the second week of the assault launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin.