Social media was flooded with images that appeared to show remnants of smoke in the sky, as well as footage with audible explosions in the background. According to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainskaya Pravda, there was an air raid siren in the region from 1:02 p.m. to 1:32 p.m. local time.
The regional administration later reported that the explosions were the result of the work of Ukraine’s Air Defense Forces.
Oleksandr Starukh, head of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration said on his Telegram channel that the “loud sounds of explosions” in the center of the Zaporizhzhia region was “the result of the Air Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in action.”
“The details will be specified. There are no victims,” he wrote.
Starukh urged residents to remain calm and to follow the rules of the region’s air alerts.
Anatoliy Kurtiev, the acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia, said in a separate statement on Telegram that the residents of the region “heard the work of our air defense forces” at around 1 p.m. on Friday.
Kurtiev said he would elaborate on details later.
A local resident said about eight explosions were heard in the region.
“By the way, you can thank our air defense - they definitely shot something down,” the post said.
Another Telegram user uploaded footage with the caption: “These are the sounds now heard by the people of Zaporozhye. Many rockets were also seen in the sky.”
It comes as both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of planning a “false-flag” attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is located on the Dnipro River in southeastern Ukraine.
The facility has been under Russian control since early March, amid a push by Putin’s forces to take control of nuclear facilities. It has been the target of heavy shelling in recent weeks, with both Kyiv and Moscow accusing each other of targeting the facility.
Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency suggested Thursday that Moscow was plotting a “false flag” attack and a “provocation” on the nuclear power plant.
Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security under Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy suggested that members of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, had “urgently” left the territory of the nuclear power plant and that an “unexpected day off” at the facility had been announced.
Russia’s defense ministry similarly claimed that Ukraine is planning to carry out a “false flag attack” at Zaporizhzhia on Friday.
Newsweek has reached out to Russia’s foreign ministry for comment.
