Klitschko brothers warn world is facing ‘a Chernobyl/Fukushima combined’ as boxers vow to ‘never surrender’ to Russia
THE Klitschko brothers have warned the world faced “a Chernobyl/Fukushima combined” if it allowed Vladimir Putin’s forces to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
Former heavyweight boxing champ Vitaly Klitschko, who is now mayor of Kyiv, vowed never to surrender to Russian forces, which captured the Zaporizhzhia plant on Thursday.
In a chilling tweet, the former elite athlete warned: “If this war in Ukraine is not STOPPED NOW the world will face another Chernobyl/Fukushima combined.
“Ukraine has 4 nuclear power plants and [the] Russian army is shooting rockets and bombing right next to it. Don’t look away, STOP [the] Russian invasion NOW!!!”
The warning comes as residents Kyiv brace for another night of shelling from Russian artillery located on the city’s outskirts.
“Thousands, already tens of thousands are killed in this war against Ukraine. And this number will unfortunately only grow,” Klitschko told Reuters from a shelter in the capital, which has seen half of its population flee.
“We are not going to surrender. We have nowhere to retreat. The situation is tense, people are worried.”
Russian troops took control of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the country’s south-west in the early hours of this morning.
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Security footage from the site showed shows flames and smoke leaking from buildings.
Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate warned on Friday that while no changes in radiation have been registered yet, there are still potential risks posed by any damage to cooling facilities and spent fuel storage containers at the site.
The agency said any loss of the power station’s ability to cool down nuclear fuel would lead to “significant radioactive releases into the environment”.
It said such an event might “exceed all previous accidents at nuclear power plants,” including the Chernobyl accident and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The agency didn’t say whether cooling facilities had been damaged by Russian shelling.
Four of the plant’s six units were being cooled down, while one was in outage, and one in operation.
The regulator added that spent nuclear fuel stored at the site posed a further risk.
“It shall be reminded that in addition to six power units at the Zaporizhzhia NPP site, there is a spent nuclear fuel storage facility, damage of which due to shelling will also lead to radioactive releases,” it said.
At least three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and three injured in the fighting overnight.
Fire crews were reportedly unable to get near the blaze because they were being shot at by the Russians.
In a chilling warning, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chernobyl.
“Russians must immediately cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone.”
It comes days after Putin‘s forces captured the Chernobyl reactor last Friday.