It seems, to me, that Putin means to shut the nuclear plants down because his product is oil and NG. Nuclear doesn't make him money and that's the purpose for reforming the USSR. I think he actually wants to reform Czarist Russia but that's an aside. Anyway, I don't believe the reactors were ever in danger and EU sounds hysterical. Let's try to not blow matters up and misstep into WWIII. Okay?
As for refugees and suffering--duh! Many humans have gone through much worse and all the nations mad at Russia will also turn against the refugees. Nobody likes refugees. Human suffering goes on and on and on without end. That's the thing to take away; without end. We must look beyond the suffering and keep even greater suffering some occuring. Certainly prematurely.
Ukraine is not like a centuries old nation. It is decades old. While age should not determine commitment it should be a factor in trusting it. If Ukraine could not meet the requirements of NATO then it's not worth WWIII.