Fighting must stop immediately in the area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility, according to the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“In the event of a nuclear leak, it will be difficult if not impossible to provide humanitarian assistance… and this is why fighting should stop,” Robert Mardini told a news conference during a visit to Ukraine.
“The scenario could be a massive incident, and… there is very little anyone can do to mitigate the dire consequences of this.”
A mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) set off for the plant this morning, but a Ukrainian official claimed they were unable to reach the facility due to Russian shelling along the route.
Mr Mardini welcomed the planned visit, saying: “It is, therefore, time to stop playing with fire and instead take concrete measures to protect this facility, and others like it, from military operations.
“The slightest miscalculation could trigger devastation that we will regret for decades.”
He added the Red Cross was not stockpiling or distributing iodine tablets to people near the plant to avoid sowing panic.
“We don’t want to give a signal that this is inevitable,” he said. “This is totally self-inflicted risk that should be totally stopped.”