Adi Roche: Russian shelling at nuclear power plant should be declared a war crime

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, which was shelled by Russian troops on Thursday. The facility provides more than a fifth of all electricity generated in Ukraine. Photo: AP

Humanitarian campaigner Adi Roche says Russian shelling at a nuclear power plant should be declared a war crime.

Ms Roche, who has been working for decades to support victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in northern Ukraine, spoke out today after Russian forces shelled and then seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility - the largest nuclear power plant in Europe - in the southeast of Ukraine.

Ms Roche said she was horrified to see Russian troops shelling an active nuclear power station, just days after Russian troops occupied the Chernobyl site.

If Russian troops are now prepared to fire on nuclear power plants, the entire continent, the entire world is at risk, she said.

“All nuclear facilities should be deemed a ‘no war zone’,” she said.

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“I urge the Irish government to lobby the International Court of Justice at The Hague to immediately declare a new ‘protocol’ to the Hague Convention on the conduct of war that any attack on a nuclear facility by a commander or executive in the field be declared a major war crime, with maximum penalties.” 

One of 15 nuclear plants in the country, the Zaporizhzhia facility provides more than a fifth of all electricity generated in Ukraine.

In a video address, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: "Europeans, please wake up. Tell your politicians - Russian troops are shooting at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.” 

Reuters verified video from the plant on Thursday which showed shelling and smoke rising near a five-storey building at the plant compound.

The footage shot at night showed one building aflame, and a volley of incoming shells, before a massive fireball lit up the sky, exploding beside a car park and sending smoke billowing across the compound.

It sparked fears of a potential nuclear disaster and spread alarm across world capitals before authorities said the fire, in a building identified as a training centre, had been extinguished. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said there was no indication of elevated radiation levels at the plant.

Against the backdrop of rising Russian aggression, Ms Roche urged the Irish government to offer to act as an “honest broker” in any potential peace talks with Russia.

She said:

Irish neutrality has never been more important.

“We should do everything in our political and diplomatic power to push at every opportunity for peace. We can be a peace broker here.” She is due to appear on The Late Late Show on Friday night and back the Irish Red Cross appeal for humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, people are continuing to donate aid to various local collections.

Volunteers from Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery and Cork Penny Dinners began collecting items at the visitor centre at the North Cathedral on Friday which will be shipped to Ukraine next Wednesday and distributed to 15 locations that have been identified by the Redemptorist Order.

And the Haiti Orphanage charity, Project Espwa, will load a truck and container of aid for Ukraine at its depot in Dripsey on Saturday. It is liaising with members of the Ukrainian, Polish and Romanian communities to ensure the aid gets to where it’s needed most.

“We are not appealing for any goods to be donated as we have at least enough of the required humanitarian aid to send three or four trailer loads - what we need are donations and we are appealing to the public to donate to our charity via the Donate link on our website where the funds raised will be used exclusively for our Ukrainian Emergency Appeal,” a spokesman said.