Russian missile barrage on Ukraine raised fears of nuclear meltdown

In its biggest attack for months, Moscow used a feared new missile and almost sent Europe’s biggest nuclear plant into meltdown.

Europe’s biggest nuclear plant was at risk of going into meltdown after Russian missile strikes knocked out its power.

Moscow hit Ukraine on Thursday with its biggest missile barrage since January including its feared Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.

Nine people died in the attack which one Ukrainian official said “was like never before”.

Ukraine’s national energy provider said it had restored power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which was disconnected earlier during the strikes.

For hours it was left running on diesel power.

Electricity is essential to operate pumps that circulate water to cool reactors and pools holding nuclear fuel. Without it a meltdown is possible.

The UN nuclear agency’s chief warned of the danger of repeated electricity outages at Zaporizhzhia.

A Russian serviceman patrols the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station (Photo by Andrey BORODULIN / AFP)

‘Rolling a dice’

“Each time we are rolling a dice,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi told the agency’s board of governors.

“And if we allow this to continue time after time then one day our luck will run out.”

Mr Grossi has been in consultations with Kyiv and Moscow for several months to try to set up a protection zone around the plant, but the talks appear to have stalled.

“We must commit to protect the safety and security of the plant,” Mr Grossi said. “And we need to commit now. What we need is action.

It was the sixth time that the Zaporizhzhia facility had been cut off from the electricity grid since Russia captured it a year ago, and the first time since November.

“This cannot go on,” he said, adding, “I am astonished by the complacency – what are we doing to prevent this happening?” he asked, vowing to pursue his efforts.

Russian authorities that control the plant said diesel generators had been switched on following a “short-circuit” on power lines, without providing details.

A Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuer attends an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

‘It was like never before’

Russia said the strikes were a response to a claimed border incursion earlier this month and cast doubt over the extension of a vital UN-brokered grain deal, saying it would discuss its renewal with the UN on Monday.

Hypersonic Kinzhal missiles were used on Thursday’s attack which can evade air defences. The missiles haven't be used since earlier in 2022.

Ukraine set it shot down 34 cruise missies but not the six Kinzhal missiles.

“This was a major attack and for the first time with so many different types of missiles,” a Ukrainian air force spokesman told Reuters news agency.

“It was like never before.”

The missiles fell across the country, causing the first civilian deaths in the western Lviv region, considered relatively safe and far from the front lines, in a long time as fighting raged in town of Bakhmut in the east.

In Velyka Vilshanytsia, a small village outside the city of Lviv, shocked villagers searched through the rubble where Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile killed five people around 120 kilometres from the Polish border.

“We thought we were safe here,” said Oksana Ostapenko, who lost her sister and two brothers-in-law when the missile struck.

For months Russia has pummelled key infrastructure in Ukraine with missiles and drones — disrupting water, heating and electricity supplies for millions of people.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people were wounded on Thursday and 40 per cent of the population had been left without power for several hours.

People search the rubble of a house following a Russian strike in the village of Velyka Vilshanytsia, some 50km from Lviv (Photo by YURIY DYACHYSHYN / AFP)