Panic as fire erupts at Ukrainian nuclear plant under relentless Russian shelling

A major Ukrainian nuclear power plant near Kyiv was ablaze, and firefighters were watching helplessly as Russian forces shelled it, sparking fears of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian and U.S. officials issued assurances that no elevated radiation levels had been detected, and Ukraine’s State Emergency Service posted to Telegram to say that around 5:20 a.m., roughly 40 firefighters “responded to the fire at the training building of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.” An hour later, the “fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP training building in Enerhodar was extinguished. There are no dead or injured,” the emergency service said in another statement reported by CNN.