Friday 12 August 2022 05:10 PM Does this video PROVE Russia is attacking Europe's largest nuclear plant? trends now

Footage has emerged which proves that Russia is attacking Europe's largest nuclear plant, according to Ukraine's atomic watchdog, threatening the continent with a disaster 'on the scale of Fukushima'. 

The video, which gives a first look inside the occupied power station at Zaporizhzhia, was taken by Ukrainian workers during an attack at the weekend and captures the sound of what appears to be mortar shells being fired and landing.

Barely a second passes between the sound of the mortar going off and the subsequent explosion, something that nuclear boss Petro Kotin says proves the fire must be coming from Russian forces which occupy the surrounding territory.

The reason for the attacks, Kotin says, is because Russian forces are trying to destroy power lines that connect the plant to Ukraine's power grid - while also creating a dangerous situation that they can blame on Kyiv. 

He added that Russian troops occupying the plant had all disappeared into bunkers shortly before the mortars opened fire while leaving the Ukrainian workers they are holding hostage above ground, in further evidence that Moscow is to blame. 

Kotin says Russian occupiers want to funnel power being generated at the plant from Ukraine to Crimea, which was disconnected from the rest of the country's power grid back in 2015 after it was annexed by Russia.

Currently, just one of the three power lines linking the plant to the Ukrainian grid is working - with Kotin telling The Times that the situation is highly precarious because severing the last line would cause a power cut to the reactors.

That would mean the plant's cooling system would have to run off diesel generators, which only have enough fuel for two weeks.

Once that fuel runs out, the Russians or the Ukrainian workers they are holding hostage would need to manually pump water through cooling tanks to keep the reactors stable. Failure to do that could cause a meltdown.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that Russia has turned the power plant into a military base, stationing armoured vehicles and explosive ammunition in and around the reactors.

'About 50 heavy vehicles with explosive materials are on the territory of the plant,' Kotin said. 'It's a dangerous situation.

'The situation has become worse over the past two weeks, when they put 14 heavy weapons vehicles in the turbine halls of reactors number one and six in number two. 

'If any of their explosive materials were to detonate there it would cause a huge fire without the possibility of putting it out before it reaches the reactor.'

A fire in any of the six reactors could trigger a disaster on par with Fukushima - the Japanese nuclear plant that suffered a meltdown after it was hit by a tsunami in 2011.

President Zelensky last night denounced what he called 'Russian terrorism', accusing the Kremlin of 'threatening the whole world' with radioactive fallout.

'Absolutely everyone in the world should react immediately to expel the occupiers from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,' he said.

'This is a global interest, not just a Ukrainian need.'

Speaking last night at a UN summit to discuss the situation at Zaporizhzhia, Rafael Grossi - head of the global nuclear watchdog IAEA - said news of attacks at the plant were 'very alarming'.

Grossi urged Russia and Ukraine to immediately allow nuclear experts to assess damage and evaluate safety and security at the sprawling nuclear complex where the situation 'has been deteriorating very rapidly.'

As a sign of how dire the situation is, even the US and China -

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