How would an attack on the Zaporizhia nuclear plant affect?
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(CNN) --
A new video has surfaced online showing Russian military vehicles inside a turbine hall connected to a nuclear reactor at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, where intensifying bombing has fueled fears of a nuclear disaster.
CNN geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the video, which began circulating on social media on Thursday.
It is unclear when the video was taken.
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The images show one of the six turbine halls located on the western side of the nuclear plant, located in the southeastern city of Enerhodar.
Each turbine hall is connected to and built into a large building that houses a nuclear reactor.
The vehicles, which appear to be standard Russian military trucks, are located at the west end of the building on the ground floor, just over 400 feet (130 meters) from the reactor.
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At least five vehicles are seen in the video, with one clearly marked with the pro-war "Z" symbol, with at least two tent-like structures nearby.
There are a number of stocked pallets near the vehicles.
It is not clear from the video whether the pallets and tent-like structures are part of the Russian military or related to the power plant's operations.
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Moscow has previously said that the only military equipment at the plant is related to guard duties.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that satellite images "show that weapons, especially heavy ones, are not placed on the ground at this station."
CNN has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment about what is in and around the military vehicles in the turbine hall, but did not immediately receive a response.
Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of threatening nuclear terrorism, particularly around the plant.
Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russian forces of storing heavy weapons inside the complex and using it as a shelter to launch attacks, knowing that Ukraine cannot return fire without risking hitting one of the plant's reactors.
Meanwhile, Moscow has claimed that Ukrainian troops are attacking the site.
On Monday, the president of Ukraine's state nuclear power company, Petro Kotin, said that Russia was storing 14 "units of heavy military equipment" in the "first power unit" and "six vehicles" in the "second storage room". machines".
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Russian military vehicles have been absent from the plant since July 24, according to satellite images of the complex provided to CNN by Planet Labs.
It is not clear if the Russian military trucks are stored inside the turbine hall or if they are using it as a shelter after a Ukrainian military attack on July 19.
The attack targeted Russian military personnel in three tents within 1,000 feet (300 meters) of one of the nuclear reactors.
Nuclear calamity fears
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, has been under Russian control since March.
The dangers and concerns about the attack on the Ukraine nuclear plant 5:12
Attacks on the complex, which have escalated as combat flares in southern Ukraine, have raised concerns about the specter of a nuclear disaster, prompting the United Nations nuclear watchdog and world leaders to demand that a mission is allowed to visit the site and assess the damage.
But nuclear experts are keen to defuse some of the more alarmist warnings, explaining that the main threat is closer to the plant itself and does not warrant alerts across Europe.
Experts are particularly wary of any comparison to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear accident in history, a repeat of which is incredibly unlikely, they said.
Fires at the plant in recent weeks damaged a dry storage facility, where containers of spent nuclear fuel are kept, as well as radiation monitoring detectors, according to Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear power company.
On August 5, several explosions near the electrical panel caused a power outage and a reactor was disconnected from the power grid, according to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi told the UN Security Council last week that the situation had deteriorated "to the point of being very alarming."
Speaking in the western city of Lviv on Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for the area around the plant to be "demilitarized" and said an agreement was urgently needed to "reestablish Zaporizhia as a purely civilian infrastructure." and guarantee the safety of the area.
"We must tell it like it is: any potential damage to Zaporizhia is suicide," Guterres said.
