situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reaching ‘point of no return’

MOSCOW, May 18 (Reuters) – Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom said on Monday that the situation regarding the Russian-owned Zaporizhiya nuclear power plant in Ukraine has reached the “point of no return” due to Ukraine’s increasing attacks on the region.

The Russian-established management of the nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe with six reactors, said that Ukrainian forces attacked the facility for the third day in a row.

“We are getting closer and closer to the point of no return, and all of Europe must now make efforts to reduce tensions around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev said, as quoted by Russian media.

“This is playing with fire and is dangerous, above all, for Eastern European countries.”

Likhachev said there were approximately 2,600 metric tons of nuclear fuel at the facility. The plant does not produce electricity, but it must continue operating to keep nuclear fuel cold.

In a post on Telegram, facility management said the latest drone strike did not cause any injuries or damage to the facility, which continues to operate normally.

The statement said permanent observers of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, showed damage from an incident on Sunday, when facility management said Ukrainian shelling had hit a shipping workshop.

The Zaporozhye facility was seized by Russian forces in the first weeks after the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Both sides regularly accused the other of military activities that could endanger nuclear security.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Alex Richardson, Rod Nickel and Ron Popeski)