Photo: DANIEL LEAL / AFP / Getty Images
The Russian troops are at 20 miles from another nuclear plant, raising fears that Vladimir Putin’s forces could unleash a “nuclear catastrophe” in Ukraine and across Europe.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, said that the soldiers were now “approaching” the Yuzhnoukrainsk plant south of Kiev.
“The Russian forces are now 20 miles, and closing, from Ukraine’s second largest nuclear facility,” Thomas-Greenfield said. .
“This imminent danger continues”.
Thomas-Greenfield begged Moscow to stop any further use of force that would put at risk the 15 reactors in Ukraine.
“Nuclear facilities cannot be part of this conflict. cto”, he added.
“Mr. Putin must stop this madness, and he must stop it now”.
The warning comes as the Russian president was labeled a “threat to the entire world” after his troops recklessly bombed a nuclear power plant on Friday.
The United States described the bombing of the Zaporizhzhya power plant, the largest in Europe, as a “war crime” and accused Putin of taking “his reign of terror one step further”.
Security images from the site at 32 miles from the sixth largest city in Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia, show flames and smoke coming out of buildings.
One image showed what appears to be a projectile meters from the plant being believed was shot by Russian forces.
According to reports, fire crews were initially unable to They went near the fire because the Russians were shooting at them.
The Ukrainian State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate warned on Friday that while no changes in radiation have yet been recorded, there are still potential risks from any damage to cooling facilities and spent fuel storage containers on site.
The agency said any loss of the power plant’s ability to cool nuclear fuel would lead to “significant radioactive releases into the environment”.
He said such an event could “surpass all previous accidents at nuclear power plants” , including the Chernobyl accident and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
President Zelensky’s top adviser accused Putin of “blackmailing the world” by threatening a “massacre under u a nuclear power plant”.
Michael Podolyak said that “all the Russian soldiers involved in this attack perfectly understood all the possible consequences” and qualified the measure as unprecedented.
Meanwhile, the United States flew B-bombers52 on Friday on NATO’s eastern flank in a show of unity with the German and Romanian armies, as Russia intensified its assault on Ukrainian cities.
The bombers departed from England, conducted training and then flew to Romania for additional air support training, reports say.
The flight placed the B-52 adjacent to Ukrainian airspace near where the Russians are attempting to claim air supremacy.
In a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vladimir Putin in insisted that the information about the bombing was false.
Subsequently, the Kremlin issued a statement saying that “the ongoing alleged airstrikes in Kiev and other big cities are false propaganda”.
Putin said he was open to talks with Ukraine, but only on the condition that “all Russian demands are met”.
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