The reason is supposed to be the lack of nuclear experts working at the power plant and also the fear of the planned Ukrainian counter-offensive, which should be directed to the south of the country with the aim of cutting off the Russians from the Crimean peninsula.
“The occupiers will probably not let the staff go after one of the regular work shifts and will detain them by force at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant,” Enerhoatom said on Telegram.
According to the company, the Russians have brought large supplies of food and water to the nuclear power plant, which also points to their plan to hold the plant’s employees hostage.
Ukraine is planning a massive counterattack in Zaporozhye, warns collaborator Russia
The war in Ukraine
The power plant has to deal with a critical shortage of experts who are able to operate the power plant. With this step, the Russians could also be preparing for the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive.
According to estimates, this could take place in the area where the power plant is located at the end of spring or the beginning of summer. One of the targets is supposed to be the occupied areas near Crimea, which would mean that the Russians could lose an important land connection with the annexed peninsula.
Enerhoatom further stated on Telegram that Russian troops took a similar step last spring when they detained personnel working at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. At that time, the Russians detained the employees for about a month when they occupied the destroyed power plant.
The Chernobyl power plant is located in the north of the country, where Russian troops led an unsuccessful attack on Kiev at the beginning of the war, which they launched with an invasion on February 24 last year.
Enerhoatom has repeatedly accused Russian forces of abusing and intimidating plant workers, which Moscow denies, Reuters noted.
The Russian army seized the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe, under dramatic circumstances last March. The facility subsequently repeatedly became the target of shelling, for which the Russian and Ukrainian armies blamed each other.
A Russian mine exploded in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
Foreign
The plant’s six reactors are now shut down, with only one remaining power line providing the electricity needed to prevent them from melting down.
The power plant is located in the Zaporozhye region, one of the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow tried to annex last year. Almost the whole world rejects Moscow’s attempt to seize Ukrainian territory.
On October 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the transfer of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant to Russian ownership.
Kyiv called this move expropriation. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to consider the plant to be Ukrainian.
The power plant has been operated by Ukrainian employees since the beginning of the occupation. Citing an Enerhoatom spokesman, Reuters reported that 11,000 Ukrainian technicians previously worked at the plant.
After the occupation, around 6,500 of them remained working at the power plant, of which 2,500 were forced to sign employment contracts with the Russians.
The Russians dug a giant, 70 kilometer long trench in the Zaporozhye region
The war in Ukraine
