Putin’s ruthless, war-crime laden invasion of Ukraine is continuing.

Most of the world is worried about the bombing of civilian targets.  OK- they really aren’t, but they do lament them.  Instead, the world complains about the effects of the war on the price of fuel, which drives worldwide inflationary rates.

Others worry about the coming food shortages across the world.  It’s why Africa, Sri Lanka, Egypt, and a slew of other nations are about to implode- or have already done so.  Because Russia is both destroying Ukraine’s food crops and barring the export of the grain.  (Tell me again why NATO – and the US- is not escorting ships through the Russian blockade to supply food the world- and help maintain Ukraine’s economy.)

But, the world is missing the boat.  And, leaving the world in a terrible condition.

First, a little bit of history.  Let us not forget that Russia (OK, it was the USSR, then) nearly poisoned the world  on 26 April 1986.  That was the day we found out about the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. The worst nuclear disaster in terms of cost and casualties.  It has led to the Chernobyl exclusion zone- massive amounts of land (1000 square miles of it!) where folks may not approach- to this day.

Oh, wait.  When Putin elected to invade the Ukraine, he invaded the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.  Where his troops made a mess of the land, building trenches among the nuclear waste, running tanks willy-nilly across the geography, and impairing the ability of the Ukrainians from maintaining safe conditions in the facility.

Then, the piece de resistance.  Russia looted 344 vehicles, 689 computers, 1500 dosimeters (which measure radiation), and every piece of fire fighting equipment from the facility.  Basically looting some $ 135 million of equipment.  By the way, most of this equipment was particular to Chernobyl- the Russians won’t be able to use it almost anywhere else.  To top it off, the Russians also blew up parts of the facility when they left.   Obviously, this leaves a great portion of Europe at risk, since the nuclear situation can no longer be readily monitored.

The plant has not been producing power since the disaster, but still employed (until the invasion) some 6000 technical staff to mitigate any future effects from the facility.  It also processed spent nuclear fuel from other locations in Europe.

But no more.

And, that was just the first step in Putin’s threat to the world.  (No, I am not forgetting his threat to use nuclear weapons as part of his invasion of Ukraine.)

Now, the Russians have taken over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.  Not to run it for power- but to install antipersonnel mines (Russia is one of 32 UN members [we are another] that has not signed the 1997 antipersonnel mine ban) , heavy artillery batteries, rendering the plant a fault zone should Ukraine elect to recapture it.  They’ve severed the feed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (in Vienna) so monitoring the safety and efficacy of the facility is impossible.

Not to mention the digging of trenches around the plant and the area- and the development of a military base in the underground bunker situated at the facility.

Russia has not removed Energoatom from managing the facility.  (Yes, that is a Ukrainian entity. And, the Russians are holding the 11000 plant workers for ransom!)   But, they have threatened to drain the cooling ponds, claiming Ukraine is hiding nuclear weapons there.  (Please remember that all of Ukraine’s nuclear weapons- which were really USSR possessions were surrendered decades ago; it’s why we- the US and the rest of the world- promised to protect Ukraine, since they abandoned their substantial nuclear arsenal.)

Pedro Kotin, the president of the Ukrainian nuclear agency (Energoatom) had documented that some 500 soldiers at Zaporzhzhia nuclear power plant have been using missile systems to bomb regions of the Ukraine.  (Obviously attempting to eradicate this missile launches would create a nuclear catastrophe, which is exactly the deviant plans Putin is employing.)

This is not going to end well.