‘Nuclear terrorism’ fears as Russia repeatedly bombs power plants in Ukraine

Ukraine officials have accused Russia of "nuclear terrorism" after their troops repeatedly bombed a reactor site in Kharkiv.

Vladimir Putin's troops allegedly launched a new attack on the city's Institute of Physics and Technology as footage from the scene shows huge flames in the building and a nearby hostel.

The fire is said to have broken out at around 8.20pm yesterday (Thursday, March 10), following sounds of "explosions and volleys of artillery."

Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security tweeted: "In Kharkiv, eyewitnesses report a fire in the building of Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology.

"The building contains equipment which, if damaged, can lead to radioactive pollution of the environment."

The fire was later put out by firefighters and thankfully, there have been no changes to radiation levels in the area.

However, experts fear attacks like this could result in a catastrophe and several warnings have gone ignored by the Russian military leading to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine accusing Russia of committing "an act of nuclear terrorism."

The news comes after Ukraine's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Emine Dzheppar, warned Putin against bombing the site last week.

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She said: "The Russian aggressor fired a hail at the Institute's territory, where the Neutron Source nuclear facility is located, with 37 nuclear fuel cells loaded into its core.

"Destruction of a nuclear installation and storage facilities for nuclear materials can lead to a large-scale environmental catastrophe."

However, this isn't the first nuclear facility that has become a target since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

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As just days ago more Russian troops were stationed just 20 miles from another nuclear facility in Yuzhnoukrainsk.

Reports also emerged of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant being plunged into darkness by cutting it off from Ukraine's national grid, sparking fears of another disaster in the area similar to the events in 1986.

It is impossible to pinpoint an exact figure of how many people died as a result of the Chernobyl disaster because there are still people today who are suffering the effects of radiation.

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However, the official Soviet records put the death figure at 31 – but the real figure is thought to be thousands, if not millions.

The blast at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union, killed two people straight away.

In the next few days, 144 servicemen were admitted to the hospital, of which 28 died as a result of acute radiation poisoning.

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