Harrowing video captures moment Ukrainian nuclear plant employees plead with Russian soldiers: 'Stop shooting! You are endangering the security of the entire world!'

New video from inside Ukraine's Russian-controlled nuclear power plant showed the moment Ukraine employees began pleading with Russian invaders to "stop shooting."

On Friday, the U.S. embassy in Kyiv tweeted that Russia's shelling of a nuclear plant is a war crime. Fortunately, contrary to initial reports released during the fog of war, no reactors were hit during the attack and authorities stated that there was ultimately no risk of a radiation leak.

What are the details?

Following an attack, Russia began occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, and according to a report from CNN, management at the Zaporizhzhia is "now working at gunpoint."

CNN on Saturday aired disturbing footage taken from inside the plant.

CNN "New Day Weekend" co-anchor John Berman cued the video, telling viewers, "We have new video from inside a nuclear power plant as it was under fire from the Russians, we told you about the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that broke out after this Russian attack. This is now a look inside the plant as those shots were being fired, employees using a public address system to try to stop the Russian troops.”

In the video, employees could be heard begging, "Stop shooting! You are endangering the security of the entire world!"

Berman in the segment added that Russian troops are commencing an advance on Yuzhnoukrainsk Nuclear Power Station in Mykolaiv Oblast.

What else?

According to the report, Petro Kotin — head of state-owned nuclear power generator Energoatom — said that Russian forces "entered the territory of the nuclear power plant" and "took control of the personnel and management of the nuclear power plant."

Kotin added that if the nuclear facility happened to be hit by shelling, it would surely lead to nuclear disaster.

A senior U.S. defense official on Friday told Fox News that Russia was likely seeking "leverage" over Ukraine’s civilian population by moving on the nuclear power sites.

"If your goal is to control population centers, if your goal is to supplant the government of Ukraine and replace it with one that that's more suitable to you, if your goal is to control Ukraine, one can surmise that you would want to control the infrastructure and to make sure that you can meter it to your needs," the defense official told the outlet in a statement. "You can use your leverage in that regard to punish a population, to make it harder for that population to resist you."