Russia just planned to shut down Ukraine's nuclear plants and collapse its power grid

Ukraine just showed its European allies a Russian plan to switch off the lights, the heat and the water in its biggest cities this winter.

And part of that plan is forcing all three of Ukraine's working nuclear power plants to shut down.

Denys Shmyhal is Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister. He brought the document to European partners in Paris about two weeks ago. The New York Times reported what's in it two days ago.

So what does the plan actually say? Up to 1,000 missiles, drones and bombs.

The targets are electrical substations, hydroelectric plants, thermal power plants, boiler facilities and water infrastructure. That means pumping stations and treatment plants too, hit with dozens of ballistic missiles and glide bombs.

And here's the thing. Russia has never carried out large-scale attacks on Ukraine's water supply before. This is a new target.

The plan runs in three phases. First, Russia hits the substations near Ukraine's western border. Those are the ones Ukraine uses to bring in electricity from Europe. Second, it hits the hydroelectric power stations. Third, it hits the substations that connect Ukraine's three nuclear plants to the national grid. All three plants go offline.

Now, you can't just flip a nuclear plant back on. So cutting it off from the grid takes out a massive, steady chunk of power, without anyone having to bomb the reactor itself.

Add it all up and Russia is aiming to knock out around 15 gigawatts of generating capacity. The document says that's enough to collapse the whole power grid.

Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa are the main targets. Electricity and heating in those cities could drop by as much as 90%. Sewage systems could stop working properly too.

And this isn't coming out of nowhere.

Two days ago, Russia launched its biggest combined strike on Ukraine's energy system since the end of last winter. Nearly 190 drones and missiles hit Kyiv and the surrounding region. Serhiy Koretskyi, Ukraine's Prime Minister, said Russia had shifted back to massive, combined strikes on energy infrastructure.