Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missile strikes have caused the loss of all external strength from a crippled nuclear power plant in Ukraine for now in five days, raising the threat of a radioactive crisis because power is needed to provide critical protection. Ukraine’s nuclear operator said on Wednesday. the reactors were previously shut down because of the war. But they still need electrical power to prevent them from overheating to the point of causing a meltdown that can cause radiation from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Energoatom said diesel turbines were forcing the plant, but Russian troops had blocked a convoy carrying additional fuel for relief teams. bombing of the (Zaporizhzhia plant) and carries the same consequences and threats of radiological accident,” the company said.
As CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata reported, the latest force disruption at the Zaporizhzhia facility came after two days of Russian missile and drone strikes on cities across Ukraine. The moves: Russian retaliation for a weekend attack on a strategic bridge connecting Crimea to Russia: it gave the impression of being the first act ordered by Vladimir Putin’s new Ukrainian war commander.
General Sergei Surovikin took the reins of Putin’s war apparatus just days before the missile movements began. His ruthless tactics as a Russian commander in Syria, razing entire cities to protect dictator Bashar Assad, earned him the nickname “General Armageddon” in the Russian press.
Zaporizhzhia is one of 4 regions that President Vladimir Putin has declared Russian territory along with an illegal land seizure. Putin signed a decree a week ago noting that Russia was seizing the nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called it a criminal act and said it thought Putin’s decree was “null and void. “
Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear operator, Energoatom, said it would continue to operate the plant.