Russian troops just 20 miles from ANOTHER nuclear plant as fears grow Putin will trigger ‘nuke catastrophe’ in Ukraine
RUSSIAN troops are 20 miles away from another nuclear plant, sparking fears Vladimir Putin's forces could trigger a "nuke catastrophe" in Ukraine.
The US ambassador to the UN said soldiers were now "closing in" on the Yuzhnoukrainsk plant south of Kyiv.
"Russian forces are now 20 miles, and closing, from Ukraine’s second-largest nuclear facility," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a chilling statement.
"This imminent danger continues."
Thomas-Greenfield begged Moscow to halt any further use of force that puts at risk all 15 reactors across Ukraine.
"Nuclear facilities cannot become part of this conflict," she added.
"Mr. Putin must stop this madness, and he must stop it now."
The warning comes as the Russian despot was labelled a "threat to the entire world" after his troops recklessly bombed a nuclear power plant on Friday.
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The US described the shelling of Zaporizhzhya power station, which is Europe's largest, as a "war crime" and accused Putin of taking "his reign of terror one step further".
Security footage from the site 32 miles from Ukraine's sixth-biggest city Zaporizhzhia shows flames and smoke leaking from buildings.
One image showed what appears to a shell metres away from the plant believed to be fired by Russian forces.
Fire crews were reportedly at first unable to get near the blaze because they were being shot at by the Russians.
Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate warned on Friday that while no changes in radiation have been registered yet, there are still potential risks posed by any damage to cooling facilities and spent fuel storage containers at the site.
The agency said any loss of the power station's ability to cool down nuclear fuel would lead to "significant radioactive releases into the environment".
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It said such an event might "exceed all previous accidents at nuclear power plants," including the Chernobyl accident and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
President Zelenskyy's chief advisor accused Putin of "blackmailing the world" by threatening a "massacre under a nuclear power plant".
Michael Podolyak said that "every Russian soldier involved in this attack understood perfectly well all the possible consequences" and called the move unprecedented.
Meanwhile, the UK's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Kremlin tyrant Putin was “playing with fire” by attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear site in south-east Ukraine.
"It’s not just dangerous for Ukraine and the Russians: it is dangerous for Europe," he warned.
"The Russian armed forces has in its arsenal a whole range of horrors that go way beyond capabilities that we would choose to have if you’re complying with Geneva conventions: the thermobaric vacuum bombs, for example, the cluster munitions that many of our countries have banned.
"Those are weapons they still use and the worrying sign [is] from President Putin, in his words, he seems to indicate no limit."
The United Nations Security Council scrambled to discuss the attack at an emergency session demanded by the British PM.
It comes as:
- Heartbreaking photos show the horrors of Vladimir Putin's war - including a baby being carried amongst the rubble
- Russian generals have been urged to ASSASSINATE demented Putin to stop the war in Ukraine
- It is feared Vlad may begin to chemical weapons on civilians like he did in Syria
- Russia received international condemnation after it attacked Europe's biggest nuclear power plant
- British journalists came under fire by Putin's troops in a horrifying video from the frontline
- Ukrainian mayor Gennady Brokovik brandished grenades as he defiantly stood up to the Russians
- Russia losses are mounting - and Vlad has lost at least three army commanders in the fighting
Johnson called for UN and nuclear inspectors to be deployed in Ukraine in the wake of the shelling, saying the world “faces a nightmare”.
He said: “I am concerned about how we stop a disaster.
“There are other Ukrainian plants and there are certainly other nuclear waste sites.”
It comes after Putin's forces captured the Chernobyl reactor last Friday.
Meanwhile, the US flew B-52 bombers on Friday over NATO’s eastern flank in a display of unity with the German and Romanian militaries as Russia ramped up its assault on Ukrainian cities.
The bombers left from England, conducted training, and then flew to Romania for additional air support training, reports say.
The flight put the B-52 bombers adjacent to Ukrainian air space near where the Russians are attempting to claim air supremacy.
It comes after the latest atrocities committed by Putin's forces, 47 people died in one attack on one city, allegedly using deadly cluster bombs, while a school was reduce to rubble in another.
But in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Russian tyrant insisted the information about bombing was fake.
The Kremlin later put out a statement saying "the alleged ongoing airstrikes of Kyiv and other large cities are gross propaganda fakes".
Delusional Putin said he was open to talks with Ukraine but only under the condition "all Russian demands are met".
Official figures reveal that since the war began, Ukraine has downed 33 Russian planes and 37 helicopters and destroyed 251 tanks, 939 armoured vehicles and 105 artillery systems.
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And they claim more than 10,000 Russian soldiers have been taken out.
It came as footage emerged online of a surface-to-air missile downing one of Russia’s choppers, an Mi-24 attack helicopter.
