Putin, Zelensky blame each other for fire at Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have both blamed each other for a fire that broke out at Europe's largest nuclear power plant on Sunday.

Kyiv said that Russian forces had started the fire at the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia. However, Zaporizhzhia's Kremlin-installed governor insisted that Ukrainian artillery was the source of the fire, BBC reports. Ukrainian troops have launched a large-scale invasion across the border into southern Russia's Kursk region beginning last Tuesday. They have gained control of much of the area as tens of thousands of civilians have been evacuated. The BBC calls it "the deepest and most significant incursion since Moscow began its full-scale invasion in February 2022."

Yevgeny Balitsky, Zaporizhzhia's governor, reported on Sunday that there was a fire at the cooling towers of the power plant but urged people to remain "calm" as no radiation spike had been detected around the plant. While he said Ukrainian shelling was to blame, Zelensky accused the Kremlin of purposefully starting the fire to try and "blackmail" Kyiv.

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