The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday expressed serious concern over Friday’s explosion at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, saying the action indicated the risk of a nuclear disaster.

“I am extremely concerned by yesterday’s explosions at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which highlight the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” CEO Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement quoted by Reuters .

Grossi called on all parties to the conflict in Ukraine to exercise “maximum restraint” in the vicinity of the plant.

On Friday, projectiles struck a high-voltage power line at the plant, forcing its operators to shut down the reactor, despite the fact that no radioactive leak was detected.

The plant was seized by Russian forces in early March, shortly after Vladimir Putin’s war began, but is still run by his Ukrainian technicians.

The state nuclear company “Energoatom” accused Russia of losses at the nuclear power plant.

On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukrainian forces of bombing the plant, saying that only “luck” prevented the radiation leak.

Grossi said that military actions that endanger the safety of the Zaporizhzhia plant “are absolutely unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs.”

“Any open fire directed at or from the facility would be tantamount to playing with fire with potentially catastrophic consequences.”

The UN agency requested access to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant.

“Nuclear annihilation” is only a “misunderstanding” or “misjudgment” away from humanity, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday.

He believes that such a “nuclear danger has not been known since the height of the Cold War” and calls for the construction of a world “without nuclear weapons” at the opening of the Conference of 191 states that have signed the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Contract.