Ukraine news LATEST: Putin’s troops could trigger ‘catastrophic Chernobyl-like disaster’ if nuclear power plant is hit

VLADIMIR Putin’s troops could cause a major nuclear emergency if Europe’s largest nuclear power station is hit by Russia, officials say. The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom has said the despot’s advances could result in a “catastrophic” disaster similar to Chernobyl. Petro Kotin called on Monday for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to be made a military-free zone, warning of the risk of a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster after the site was hit by shelling. He called for a team of peacekeepers to be deployed at the sitein comments on television after Ukraine and Russia accused each of shelling the nuclear power plant. Mr Kotin said on television: “The decision that we demand from the world community and all our partners… is to withdraw the invaders from the territory of the station and create a demilitarized zone on the territory of the station.” “If one container of spent nuclear fuel is broken, it will be a local accident in the plant and the surrounding area,” the top nuclear official said. He added: “If there are two or three containers, it will be much larger. It is impossible to assess the scale of this catastrophe.” Read our Ukraine-Russia blog below for the latest updates…