this, where the russians said, we can t make this happen. we re going to have to concentrate down here in the donbas area. interesting. very interesting. i want to talk to the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant if we can. zelenskyy says, quote, russia has put the world on the brink of radiation catastrophe. a nuclear expert tells cnn the significant damage is actually unlikely. there are 15 15 reactors in ukraine. how is ukraine protecting these resources? yeah, what most folks don t understand is the number of nuclear facilities that are there, as you can see them there, highlighted here, and six at the zaporizhzhia facility, which is the one that s been under focus where there s been russian control, but it s been very haphazard. but they have also been in there firing out from there, as almost tempting the ukrainians to bomb their own nuclear power plant. which is what the russian intent has been all along. so what has happened is clearly, chernobyl has been inactivated for
concerns in the international community that the international community could be affected by some kind of nuclear disaster if there were a military engagement in or around that nuclear facility. but also because the russians allegedly have plans to take electricity out of the grid, in other words disconnect that nuclear power satation from the nuclear grid and plug it into their own nuclear grid. that could be dangerous because it could affect the cooling systems for the reactors still online at the moment. they re at full capacity, six reactors, i think it s about two which are currently online. that nonetheless could be very, very dangerous indeed. all right, sam kiley in zaporizhzhia, thank you so much. continue to be safe. with us now is jeffrey lewis, the director of the east asia nonproliferation program at the middlebury institute of
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continuing to stir the pot without actually delivering any kind of a meal, fredricka. all right, sam kiley in zaporizhzhia, thanks so much. the international nuclear watchdog agency says there isn t an immediate threat to nuclear safety despite the repeated shelling of the area around the facility. but as fred pleitgen reports, moscow and kyiv are not mincing words as they blame each other for the attacks. reporter: russia and ukraine accusing each other of bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster. both sides claiming the other is targeting the atomic power plant in zaporizhzhia in southern ukraine. vladimir putin with a staunch warning after a call with french president, emmanuel macron. vladimir putin in particular stressed that the systematic shelling by the ukrainian military on the territory of the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant creates the danger of a large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radiation
a senior u.s. defense official calling russia s actions the height of irresponsibility. as cnn first reported, satellite images contradict russia s claims that ukraine has been shelling the area around the plant. cnn s sam kiley is in zaporizhzhia. sam, could allowing inspectors in there in any way ease tensions? reporter: well, the presence of inspectors in the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant would be an extraordinary step forward. this has been an offer that the russians have made or paid lip service to now for some weeks, repeated in the last 24 hours by vladimir putin, at least that is the claim from the kremlin following a readout of their telephone call with the president of france, emmanuel macron. in the same readout the russians claim that the ukrainians were conducting what vladimir putin claims to be systematic artillery strikes against