Posted on 03/03/2022 4:28:03 PM PST by DFG
A fire has been seen at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine after tanks opened fire with heavy weapons at the facility, footage in the early hours of Friday morning showed.
A live feed from the Zaporizhzhia station showed flames at the site in the east of country, having earlier showed tanks firing at buildings - sparking fears of a radiation disaster in the nation currently being invaded by Russian forces.
Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the nearby town of Energodar, confirmed the blaze in an online post. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest of its kind in Europe.
'As a result of continuous enemy shelling of buildings and units of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire,' Orlov said on his Telegram channel, citing what he called a threat to world security.
Earlier, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian troops were stepping up efforts to seize the plant and had entered the town with tanks.
The shocking footage came after Ukrainian civilians defied Russian troops for a second day running in a bid to protect the nuclear plant. They were shown setting up make-shift road blocks in an attempt to block the road to the facility.
Both the Ukrainian state atomic energy company and Orlov said troops were nearing Zaporizhzhia. Officials said loud shots were heard in the city late Thursday.
'Many young men in athletic clothes and armed with Kalashnikov have come into the city. They are breaking down door and trying to get into the apartments of local residents,' the statement from Energoatom said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Not speaking specifically about this plant, but depending on the particulars shut down reactors can still overheat and blow to hell if the cooling is interrupted. You can’t just flip the off switch and walk away.
maybe we should believe them this time ?
OMG is that true ?
It does. This whole war has an aura of being an epic, a tale told with drama.
That’s what I am also finding. Ukraine theater
It was just an administrative building. But this is disturbing. Is this Putin’s exit strategy? If he can’t have Ukraine, neither can the Ukrainians or anyone else?
Per AP: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-joe-biden-kyiv-business-33b6c1709dee937750f95c6786832840
Some choice quotes:
"[Ukraine's state nuclear regulator] noted in a statement on Facebook the importance of maintaining the ability to cool nuclear fuel, saying the loss of such ability could lead to an accident even worse than 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, or the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in Japan. It also noted that there is a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the site, though there was no sign that facility was hit by shelling."
...
"Earlier, nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells fell directly on the facility and set fire to one of its six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, he said."
These particular videos show tracer (from small arms I guess).
Southfront editorialises on the pro-Russia side.
I don’t think Putin is ordering anything directly in this war. They want the plant so as to turn off the lights, and use it to rebuild the nation when the war is over (two weeks or so).
I don’t think Putin is ordering anything directly in this war. They want the plant so as to turn off the lights, and use it to rebuild the nation when the war is over (two weeks or so).
Now watch people believe everything they read....
Because the same people who lied to us for years about Trump, election security, fricking CoupFlu, would never dream of lying to us about this, right...?
(crickets)
The employees might not get paid. The burning building is the administrative building. The idea might be to knock out the power distribution, rather than the reactors. They would want a blackout, not Chernobyl 2.0.
This power outage tracking site isn't showing a blackout across Ukraine (at least as of 10 minutes ago). Disclaimer: I found this site at random - I have no idea of its provenance nor trustworthiness.
IIRC the Russians have stated that they want to avoid any possible UDF provocation at the site - preventing what we might call 'Chernobyl 2.0'.
The Russians took over the actual Chernobyl site a few days back, with the same expressed intention.
But the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is HUGE: the Russians must have an eye on the strategic possibilities of cutting power if they wanted to.
According to morning news the reactors are fine, but a building is on fire.
The propaganda is astonishing.
You believe the mainstream media?
Do you really believe the media?
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