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Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, is on fire as a result of a Russian attack, Ukraine's foreign minister said on Friday, calling for a security zone and firefighters to be permitted to deal with the disaster.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, tweeted a video of the nuclear power plant's fire shortly after the news of the incident broke.

He captioned the video, "Zaporizhzhia NPP under fire..."

According to the RIA news agency, the Ukrainian atomic energy ministry said on Friday that a generating unit of the plant was hit during an attack by Russian soldiers, and that part of the station is on fire.

On Twitter, Russian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, "Russian army is firing from all sides onto Zaporizhzhia NPP, Europe's largest nuclear power facility."

"A fire has already started... Russians must put out the fire as soon as possible, allow firefighters to work, and establish a security zone!"

Meanwhile, IAEA Director-General Rafael MarianoGrossi met with Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmygal as well as the country's nuclear regulator and operator, urging a halt to the use of force and warning of grave danger if reactors are hit.

The mayor of the neighbouring town of Energodar claimed in an online post that there has been severe fighting in the area about 550 kilometres (342 miles) southeast of Kyiv. He stated that there had been casualties but did not elaborate.

Russia has already taken control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power station, which is located around 100 kilometres north of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.