IAEA says second Ukraine nuclear site damaged in fighting, no radiation leak

The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has received reports of artillery shells damaging a nuclear research facility in Ukraine’s besieged second city Kharkiv, but there was no “radiological consequence.”

The Vienna-based UN body says Ukrainian authorities reported an attack took place on Sunday, adding that no increase in radiation levels had been reported at the site.

Because the site’s “inventory of radioactive material is very low” and kept at a “subcritical” state, the IAEA says “the damage reported to it would not have had any radiological consequence.”

The facility is part of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, a research institute that produces radioactive material for medical and industrial applications.

Kharkiv has come under intense Russian shelling and missile attacks in recent days, as Moscow tries to step up pressure on Ukraine to surrender.