The attack briefly sparked concerns of a meltdown.

Last night, during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian troops launched explosive shells at the Zaporizhzhia power plant facility, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. In this process of this bombing, one of the reactors caught fire. When this occurred, the troops temporarily paused their assault long enough for Ukrainian firefighters to subdue the blaze. The fire was successfully extinguished this morning, though the Russian troops have taken full control of the plant.

This incident has caused even greater concern and confusion in regards to Russia’s military tactics, as directly attacking a nuclear site could have far-reaching conseqeunces.

“The biggest threat is nuclear material stored in the station’s six nuclear reactors and in the exposure pools,” Petro Kotín, head of Ukraine’s state-run nuclear power operator, Energoatom, said in a statement. “There are also about 150 containers of processed nuclear fuel in the nuclear fuel warehouse at the site.”

In the event that that nuclear material ignited, the resulting nuclear meltdown would be catastrophic, affecting not only Ukraine, but multiple surrounding countries, Russia included.

For the moment, the Russian soldiers have taken full control of the plant and the electricity it provides, with the plant’s operators currently working “at gunpoint” according to Kotin. Russia has claimed that Ukraine was responsible for this incident as its soldiers maintain control. US Defense Officials have theorized that the soldiers may intend to use their control of the plant to deny electrical power to parts of Ukraine.