Russian military forces on Friday attacked and seized control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, even after the two countries agreed on a halt in fighting to create corridors to allow civilians to evacuate and prepare for the next round of cease-fire talks.

A huge blaze in a training building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been extinguished and Ukrainian nuclear authorities said there are no safety concerns.

Noting that the Russian army was "firing from all sides" on the nuclear plant, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted, "If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chornobyl!" referring to one of the world's worst nuclear disasters that occurred in 1986 at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.

Screenshot taken on March 4, 2022, from nuclear energy company Energoatom's YouTube channel shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine under attack by the Russian military. (Kyodo)

The situation in Ukraine remains volatile as Russia's invasion enters its second week, with the leaders of the two countries apparently unwilling to compromise.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted after their second round of talks that the "results Ukraine needs are not yet achieved."

The next round of cease-fire negotiations is expected to be held in Belarus early next week.

Following the latest alarming development in Russia's weeklong invasion of its neighbor, Kuleba urged Moscow to agree to an immediate cease-fire so firefighters can deal with the situation at the nuclear plant.


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Following the attack on the Ukrainian nuclear plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a tweet that the fire "has not affected 'essential' equipment" and that plant personnel were taking actions to mitigate the situation.

The IAEA also said the Ukrainian regulator had told it "there has been no change reported in radiation levels" at the plant. It quoted IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi as warning of "severe danger" if reactors are hit.

With the United States now monitoring the situation, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tweeted that the "plant's reactors are protected by robust containment structures" and are "being safely shut down."

The plant has six reactors and is located in the southeastern part of Ukraine. It generates about 20 percent of Ukraine's total energy.

The attack came after the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in a border area between Belarus and Poland. The first round of talks Monday in a Ukraine-Belarus border area failed to achieve any breakthrough.

After the latest negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared confident about his country's military operation, which he described, according to CNN, as "going according to plan."

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly expressed readiness to hold direct talks with Putin, he added that "there are things in which there are no compromises."

The second round of talks also came a day after Russian troops took control of Kherson in the south, the first major Ukrainian city to be taken by Russia since it launched the invasion on Feb. 24.

Russian forces have been continuing bombardments of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as well as Kharkiv, the second-largest city that is located in the east of the country.

According to local media reports and other sources, Kyiv demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from all Ukrainian territory during Monday's talks.

Russia called for its sovereignty over Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to be recognized, as well as the "demilitarization" and "neutralization" of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Russia's Defense Ministry said 498 Russian soldiers had been killed and 1,597 injured in its first official announcement of casualties.

The numbers, however, were far smaller than the around 9,000 fatalities announced by Zelenskyy. Meanwhile, Ukraine's government said more than 2,000 of its citizens are estimated to have been killed in Russian attacks.

The outflow of refugees from the East European country has shown no signs of stopping, with more than 1 million people having left as of Thursday, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.