Amid fears Russia might blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine has been holding drills to prepare emergency services with how to deal with a potential radioactive disaster.
ABC News was invited to the drills in the city of Zaporizhzhia this week, about 30 miles from the plant, where firefighters in hazmat gear simulated decontaminating people from radiation during an evacuation.
Emergency workers demonstrated scanning civilians with Geiger counters as they disembarked buses, stripping some civilians and hosing them with water as they lay on stretchers. Firefighters in yellow suits sprayed down vehicles and moved them through a large washer system rigged up between fire trucks.
Ukrainian officials have been sounding increasingly dire warnings around the nuclear plant that Russia has occupied since early in the war. This week, Ukraine's chief of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, claimed Russia had now completed preparation to potentially sabotage the plant if it chooses.
Budanov told The New Statesman magazine that Russian troops had rigged the station's cooling ponds with explosives, that if destroyed could lead to the reactors melting down. He also said Russia had moved explosives-laden vehicles into four of the plant's six power units.
"The situation has never been as severe as now," Budanov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated the warning again on Saturday at a press conference, saying "there is a serious threat" and that Russia is "technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station" that could cause a radiation leak. Zelenskyy has called on the international community to take the threat seriously and deter Russia from damaging the plant.
The nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, has been largely shut down for months and is currently not producing any electricity.
