This morning,
an urgent warning from Ukrainian
President Zelensky,
who says objects
that look like explosives
have been found on two nuclear
reactors, ends up Burisma
And he says Russia put them there.
This Operation
Power Plant is Europe's largest
nuclear plant.
Russia has occupied the plant
since the beginning of its war
in Ukraine.
Ever since,
there has been a grave global concern
that Russian forces
could carry out
a catastrophic nuclear attack.
Zelensky's.
Direct message to Moscow right now
the world sees
and the world is ready to respond.
CNN Scott McLean is in London
for us tracking this threat.
Scott,
we've heard
from Zelensky on this,
but Russia
also has its own version of events.
What are you hearing?
Yeah, so look, Zelensky
says that the only threat to the planet
right now is from Russia.
The Russians say that they are no threat
at all.
In fact,
they've previously said
that the International
Atomic Energy Agency,
they have inspectors,
they have employees
who are working at the site right now.
And it was last week,
actually,
that the IAEA put out a statement
saying that they have seen
no evidence of any bombs or any mines
located on that site.
Though the caveat is
they say that they still would need
more fuller access to the site itself
in order to say that with 100% certainty.
The Russians say that, look,
the threat here is from Ukraine.
Dmitry Peskov,
the Kremlin spokesperson, said
this and I quote earlier today,
There is a great threat of sabotage
by Kiev,
which can have catastrophic consequences.
For the record, Sara,
President Zelensky
isn't putting out any specific evidence
of his allegations here
of these explosives on site,
but he is saying that
this would essentially be a false flag
operation, echoing
what the Ukrainian military
has said before
and that any explosion
would make it look like
this was the result of
Ukrainian shelling,
but wouldn't be powerful enough
to actually damage
the reactors themselves.
Still, the Ukrainians say
that their emergency services
have been preparing
for this kind of possibility.
Special Forces from
Ukraine are on alert as well.
And the Russians say
that they are also prepared for this.
So everyone here is on high alert.
I just want to show you
a satellite image as well,
just to kind of better
illustrate this area.
So the reactors themselves,
which you should be able
to see
on the top
of this image, of this image,
those red circles there.
They're housed
in these containment buildings
which are designed to be able
to withstand the force
of an accidental plane
crash, how
they would
hold up against the weapons of war.
We don't have a good answer to that.
But also keep in mind
that at the bottom of your screen there
you see those rectangles.
They're those dark rectangles.
Those are cooling ponds
which store the spent nuclear fuel rods.
And they are right out there in the open.
They have no protection at all.
So there's not a whole lot of margin
for error that we're talking about here.
The good news is that we are getting
some reassuring signs from
nuclear officials
on both sides of the front line.
And the Ukrainians say
that the situation is stable.
The Russian backed officials
and the occupied parts
of Ukraine where this plant is located
they say that the background
radiation levels are normal.
They also call, Zelensky's
claims, garbage.
One other thing
to quickly mention, Sarah,
and that is that
the Kremlin today
is denying
a report
in the Financial Times
that Chinese President Xi
Jinping had warned
Russian President
Vladimir Putin
against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
The Kremlin calling that
report, quote, fiction.
Sara,
I think that's what you're hearing
Phil Linsky say the world is watching.
Thank you so much for all of that, Scott.
John All right.
Let me give you a sense of where
all this is taking place.
If you can see the map right here.
The separation
nuclear power plant is right here
that has been in Russian hands
since the beginning. Of the invasion.
Zap reach of the city
is still in Ukrainian hands
and has been since the very beginning
and a great deal
of the fighting in the counteroffensive
has been happening
along the salient right here.
You can see I think you can see more.
You can't from where you are in yellow.
These are some of the towns and cities
that Ukraine has taken back
in the counteroffensive.
That is where they have made
some progress.
Let's bring in retired U.S.
Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson.
General, great to see you.
I want to put up pictures again
of this at four U.S. nuclear power plant.
How much of a disaster
would it be from a strategic standpoint
if Russia did sabotage this plant?
Well, thank you, John.
Well, this would be a huge disaster.
Operationally and strategically,
I mean, it's in
some of the richest farmland in the world
is within 50
to 100
miles of this facility,
the largest nuclear power plant
in Europe.
And that is incredibly impactful
on the world
food supply,
potentially, not to mention, of course,
the threat, the loss of life and whatnot.
So this is why
the International Atomic Energy
Commission has got to actually step
up, get inspectors on there and confirm
or deny the state of the situation there.
The other thing
I think that's being pointed out
by Japan's
operations on the ground
is that retaking
Zapier Asia
is a high priority
for this Ukrainian counter-offensive.
So they, too, need to step it up.
Vladimir Putin is desperate.
We saw what he did.
His reaction
to the recent Wagner group defection
He's
becoming increasingly
vulnerable internally.
And so there's no limit
to what this desperate
man might very well do.
He's already taken out the dam
that has the potential to impact
some of those six reservoirs
that Scott just pointed out
and the facility, because this is
Zamperini is a pressurized water reactor.
Chernobyl was a graphite
moderated reactor.
What that means is they need water.
They need water and cooling towers
and containment facilities
and all those things
are made out of concrete.
And, you know,
and weapons of war can take down
those those concrete structures.
So this is a grave threat.
And we need to step it up
with the International Atomic Energy
Commission and
operationally on the ground.