Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Worker Killed in Shelling, Video Appears to Show

A new video appears to show a mechanic who was reportedly killed by Russian shelling at Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine, as the fighting continues at the site just over 300 miles from where the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe occurred in 1986.

A video published by the Kyiv Post and posted by John Hudson of the Washington Post appears to show Vladyslav Mitin dead in his car on the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. Mitin was a mechanic at the thermal automation and measurement shop, and was initially injured by the shelling, before later dying in an area hospital, the Kyiv Post reported.

The video is taken from the front of a car driving in the area and it approaches a damaged black car on the side of the road with its right door ajar. The driver slows down and looks through the window of the black car, and the video appears to show a man's body in a white t-shirt with his head slumped over the driving wheel. The man recording the video then gets out of his car and walks over to the wrecked car, which is pockmarked by pieces of shrapnel.

Newsweek was unable to verify the video, which does not show how the man died or reveal which man is lying in the car.

The nuclear plant, which was built between 1984 and 1995, was one of the first sites seized by Russian troops following the start of their invasion of Ukraine on February 24. It is strategically important as it powers Ukraine and several other European countries, but its location along the Dnipro River has made it vulnerable to Russian attack.

The plant, operated by the Ukrainian state enterprise, Energoatom, has been under continued military bombardment for the last couple of weeks.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries, as well as Energoatom for comment on the video.

There has been fear that the fighting at the plant could lead to a nuclear disaster on a far greater scale than the one at Chernobyl. Ukraine's government warned on August 19 that a nuclear disaster at the site "may be 10 times more powerful than" the Chernobyl meltdown.

Although U.N. only attributed 50 deaths to the Chernobyl disaster, it estimates that about 4,000 people have died as a result of it and thousands more had health defects. Before the Soviet government intervened and stopped the crisis, there were fears the radiation from the plant could spread to central Europe.

European intelligence officials have told Bloomberg that Russia is likely to be using the Zaporizhzhia plant to provide cover for troops and equipment, which would undermine the safety of the site's operations.

The head of Ukraine's nuclear power industry told Sky News that staff at the power station had been tortured by Russians to force them to operate the facility.