Nuke watchdog warns attacks on Russia-controlled power plant ‘must stop now’ as smoke seen billowing out

Shocking photos captured smoke billowing out of a Russia-controlled nuclear power plant in Ukraine — a “reckless” attack that risked a major “nuclear accident,” according to the head of the international nuclear watchdog.

Thick, black smoke was seen Sunday exiting the top of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that Russia captured shortly after launching its full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022.

The massive fire followed multiple explosions hitting the vast, six-reactor facility, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog, which has staff there.

“These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned in a statement.

“They must stop now.”

A non-functioning cooling tower was damaged in the fire, Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said initial tests showed that “the radiation indicators are normal.

“But as long as Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Russia since the first day of the seizure of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant uses it purely for blackmail and Ukraine, and all of Europe and the world,” he wrote.

“Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhia station can guarantee a return to normality and full security.”

Alexei Likhachev, head of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, blamed two drone strikes from Ukraine, according to Interfax news agency. He offered no evidence.

He said the fire burned for about three hours and caused “very serious damage” to a cooling tower, which might need to be replaced.

With Post wires