President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Vladimir Putin has put “all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster.”

On  Thursday the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (NPP) had stopped for the first time ever after a fire broke out from Russian shelling.

President Zelensky said, “For the first time in history, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant stopped. The emergency protection of the power units worked – after the last working line of the plant’s power return to the Ukrainian power system was damaged by Russian shelling.

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“Diesel generators were immediately activated to provide energy to the plant itself, to support it after the shutdown.

“The world must understand what a threat this is: if the diesel generators hadn’t turned on, if the automation and our staff of the plant had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the radiation accident.”

He warned, “Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster.”

He said  the temporarily occupied areas of southern Ukraine are already in a state of humanitarian catastrophe, as a direct result of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

In particular, the cutoff of electricity, water and sewerage and tried to assure that the Ukrainian authorities are doing everything to prevent an emergency scenario.

He added, “But it depends not only on our state. The key thing is that such international pressure is needed that will force the occupiers to immediately withdraw from the territory of the Zaporizhia NPP.

“The IAEA and other international organizations must act much faster than they’re acting now.

“Because every minute the Russian troops stay at the nuclear power plant is a risk of a global radiation disaster.”