Kyiv/Moscow, 12 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) — A fire has broken out in the cooling system of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, according to Russian accounts.

The Russian-installed governor of the region, Yevgeny Balitsky, stated that there had been a Ukrainian attack in the vicinity of the power plant beforehand, state news agency TASS reported on Sunday.

Balitsky asserted, however, that there was no danger since all blocks of the nuclear power plant were shut down. He added that radiation levels were within the normal range.

The fire had since been extinguished, Russian authorities said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of setting fire to the nuclear power plant. Although radiation levels were normal, Zelensky wrote on the platform X, "as long as the Russian terrorists control the nuclear power plant, the situation is and cannot be normal."

Russia seized Europe's largest nuclear power plant shortly after the start of its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine and has occupied it since then. Both sides accuse each other of attacks on or sabotage of the plant. Russia has recently complained repeatedly of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Due to safety concerns, the reactors were already shut down in 2022 but still need to be cooled.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said observers at the plant had heard multiple explosions at the same time they were told a drone had allegedly struck one of the towers.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi confirmed there was no impact on nuclear safety at the plant.

The IAEA had requested immediate access to the cooling tower to assess the damage.

"These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now," Grossi said.

Russia continues offensive in eastern Ukraine

The Ukrainian military on Sunday said Russian forces have continued their offensive in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow scrambles to respond to Kiev's incursion into the southern Russian region of Kursk.

The Ukrainian General Staff said the fighting centred around the city of Pokrovsk in the region of Donetsk, where it said Ukrainian forces repelled 26 attempts by Russian units to break through defences since Sunday morning.

Further east in Donetsk, Kiev said Russian troops also attempted to advance towards the settlement of Niu-York (or New York) near the town of Toretsk.

The military report said the advance was pushed back, while Toretsk was the target of Russian airstrikes.

The general staff provided little information on the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, which has led Russia to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians after six days of heavy fighting.

It did however state that Russian long-range artillery and fighter planes were targeting the area around the Ukrainian city of Sumy, which is a crucial supply route for the units in Kursk.

Russian authorities meanwhile reported that at least 13 people were injured on Sunday after debris from a downed Ukrainian missile fell on an apartment building in the city of Kursk.

Zelensky calls on allies to lift restrictions

Zelensky again called on Ukraine's allies to lift restrictions on how Kiev can use the long-range weapons supplied by the West, after a deadly Russian airstrike near Kiev killed a father and son.

Zelensky said that North Korean missiles may have been used in the attack.

"The Russians have no geographical restrictions on the use of such weapons: Since the first days of the full-scale war, the entire territory of our state has been under constant threat of attack," Zelensky wrote on X.

"When Ukraine's long-range capabilities have no limits, this war will definitely have a limit: We will truly bring its just end closer."

Ukraine is not allowed to use Western weapons to fire on targets deep inside Russian territory, in part because leaders in Europe and the United States fear it could draw them into the conflict.

Zelensky said that Russia had fired 30 missiles and over 800 glide bombs at Ukraine in one week.

He condemned Russia's "deliberate terrorist strike" which saw a 35-year-old father and his 4-year-old son die when fragments of a missile fell on residential buildings in Brovary, east of the Ukrainian capital.

Belarus reinforces border

Elsewhere, Belarus has begun moving tanks to its border with Ukraine, the Defence Ministry in Minsk said on Sunday, after reportedly shooting down several Ukrainian combat drones in its airspace.

The ministry published a video on Telegram showing tanks being loaded onto rail transport carriages.

The move came after Belarusian strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko ordered the reinforcement of troops in the south-eastern Gomel and Mazyr areas that border Ukraine to be able to react to potential provocations from the neighbouring country.

Lukashenko, regarded as Europe's last dictator, is one of Russia's most important supporters in its war against Ukraine. At the beginning of the war almost two and a half years ago, Lukashenko allowed Russian troops to invade northern Ukraine via Belarus.