蜜芽传媒

Ukraine's government says the power supply to the former nuclear plant at Chernobyl has been cut after fighting at the site, with only limited fuel for backup generators.

The electricity is used to cool spent nuclear fuel at the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.

The UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA says there is no critical threat to safety - but the Ukrainian government takes a different view, as Oleksandr Harchenko, an advisor to Ukrraine's energy minister, told Newshour's James Menendez.

(Photo shows the new safe confinement structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Ukraine. Credit: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)