WORKERS at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant fear the Russian-occupied facilities could be on the brink of a nuclear disaster.
Ukraine's nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia has been under Russian control since March 2022 – and engineers fear it is now a catastrophe "waiting to happen".
Shells and rockets have hit the facility since Russia invaded Ukraine last year – with fears one wrong move could trigger a disaster worse than Chernobyl.
And now Ukraine is hoping to reclaim the area where the power station is as they launch the new counter-offensive.
It was only last week that a power outage at Zaporizhzhia had many worried about a radiation leak.
Both sides are blaming the other for the possible danger around the power station.
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Five of the six reactors are now in cold shutdown – but fears still loom, especially should Putin decide to use the plant as a weapon.
Nuclear plant worker Serhii told Sky News that tensions are heightened, but he knows Ukraine will not shell the station.
Serhii said: "The thing is, one month and a half ago there were two times fewer Russian troops on the power station.
"And now there are two times more which means they are definitely preparing for the counteroffensive."
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Worker Mykola said it's a terrifying place to work, and the nuclear technicians face intimidation from the occupying Russian soldiers.
He compared it to being held as a hostage in his own workplace.
And he warned the nuclear generators are not being maintained as staff is severely limited.
Before the war there were 11,000 staff at the plant and now there may be as few as 3,500.
"The quality of the workers is lower because the qualified staff left. So generally the situation here is deteriorating," said Mykola.
It would be much, much worse than Fukushima and worse than Chernobyl
Serhii said the situation is deteriorating, and if Russian forces continue to fortify the area, he worries of a disaster.
He explained: "The level of radioactive pollution, and most importantly the area of contamination, will be thousands of square kilometres of land and sea.
"It would be much, much worse than Fukushima and worse than Chernobyl."
Mykola said he has no choice be to keep working to try and keep the power plant, and himself, safe.
"Everyone has their own story. And I think the most important thing is not to get into their hands because it's unlikely you will get out and still be the human you were when you went in," he said.
Ukraine launched its counteroffensive last week, according to President Zelensky's most senior advisor.
Mikhail Podolyak, head of the presidential office, said the operation to push Russia back to Ukraine's borders is well under way.
Speaking to Italian radio station Rai1 last week, Mr Podolyak said: "It's an intense war on 1500km of border, but the actions have already started."
It is unclear which actions he was referring to, but Ukrainian troops are known to be attacking around the flanks of Bakhmut in an attempt to surround the city.
Bakhmut was recently seized by Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group thugs, after a battle which saw many Wagner members running like "rats into a trap".
Mr Podolyak added: "This is not a "single event" that will begin at a specific hour of a specific day with a solemn cutting of the red ribbon."
Russia's invasion was claimed by Putin to simply be a "special military operation" which would only last two weeks.
Now tens of thousands of Russians are lying dead in the fields across Ukraine.
And millions of Ukrainian civilians have endured untold misery as the cities have been devastated and their homes stolen.
Putin foolishly believed his forces would be welcomed into Ukraine as liberators.
But instead, the initial attack ended in a disaster that saw his forces devastated and thrown back to Russia.
Kyiv also continues to call for Western arms which they believe they need to defeat the Russians.
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The world is waiting to see what Ukraine will achieve in their counter-offensive – with hopes it could provide key gains across the frontline.
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