Russian forces ‘fire rockets at nuclear reactor’ in Kharkiv as officials warn of ‘large scale disaster’

RUSSIAN forces have been accused of firing rockets at a facility with a nuclear reactor amid fears of a radiation catastrophe in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin's army are said to have fired unguided rockets at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology.

The institute is home to a facility called Neutron Source which contains a nuclear reactor used for research.

Ukraine's national security service warned the attack on the campus could lead to a "large scale ecological disaster".

The service announced that the Russians were firing at the facility using Grad missile launchers.

Emine Dzheppar, deputy minister for foreign affairs, said: "The Russian aggressor fired 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."

And the attack comes just days after idiotic Russian forces shelled Europe's largest nuclear power plant - setting it on fire.

The facility was constructed with $70million worth of funding from the US and is meant for research uses for medicines, industry and physics.

While not as large as reactors used in nuclear power plants - the facility still poses a major danger if damaged by the Russians.

Today, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is now under Russian control.

And the IAEA warned there are fears if the site will be able to operate safely under the pressure of occupation.

🔵 Read our Russia - Ukraine live blog for the very latest updates

Meanwhile, Russian forces are said to be just 20 miles from another nuclear facility at Yuzhnoukrainsk.

Ukraine knows the dangers of nuclear energy more than any other country after the horrors of the disaster at Chernobyl in 1986.

The poorly managed Soviet Union-run facility triggered the world's worst nuclear plant catastrophe.

It comes as:

• Boris Johnson is to present a six-point plan of action to world leaders on how to deal with Putin 
• Ukraine claims it has now killed 11,000 Russian soldiers as yesterday nine of Putin's aircraft were shot down
• Putin issued a direct threat to the UK as he raged at sanctions "akin to a declaration of war"
• SAS and US commandos are reportedly training for a rescue mission to save President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
• Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia dealing Putin another major blow
• Cancer-stricken kids are trapped in war-torn Ukraine - as doctors tell them the bombs are just fireworks
• Heartbreaking pictures show the extent of Ukraine's refugee crisis - with 1.5million fleeing for their lives
• British firms helping Putin's henchmen must face the full force of the law, said David Davis MP

It rendered a large swathe of country uninhabitable and sent radiation across Europe.

And while Russia's war in Ukraine is unlikely to see the use of nuclear weapons, it is feared reckless behaviour by the Russians could trigger a new catastrophe.

"Russian forces are now 20 miles, and closing, from Ukraine’s second-largest nuclear facility," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a chilling statement on Friday.

"This imminent danger continues."

Ukraine has previously accused mad tyrant Putin of "wanting another Chernobyl".

Thomas-Greenfield begged Moscow to halt any further use of force that puts at risk all 15 reactors across Ukraine.

"Nuclear facilities cannot become part of this conflict," she added.

"Mr. Putin must stop this madness, and he must stop it now."

The warning comes as the Russian despot was labelled a "threat to the entire world" after his troops recklessly bombed a nuclear power plant on Friday.

The US described the shelling of Zaporizhzhya power station, which is Europe's largest nuclear facility, as a "war crime" and accused Putin of taking "his reign of terror one step further".

Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate warned on Friday that while no changes in radiation have been registered.

But 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.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief advisor accused Putin of "blackmailing the world" by threatening a "massacre under a nuclear power plant".

Michael Podolyak said that "every Russian soldier involved in this attack understood perfectly well all the possible consequences" and called the move unprecedented.

Britain branded Vladimir Putin’s shelling of a Ukraine nuclear plant an “affront to the world at large” that directly threatens the safety of Europe.

Likewise, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "This threat is relevant to the entire world," while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his ministers joined the chorus of global condemnation.

Blinken added that the Russian President is violating the fundamental principles established after two world wars.

The US and allies also criticized the seizure of the power plant, demanding Moscow not allow a similar attack to happen again.

The UK's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Kremlin tyrant Putin was “playing with fire” by attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear site in south-east Ukraine.

He warned the Russian despot is risking “a new Cold War and a new Iron Curtain will descend across Europe”.