by Lorenzo Cremonesi, sent to Zaporizhia
Anatolii Kurtiev, 46 and mayor for seven months: “We have no contacts, we fear accidents”
“Of course we are concerned, very concerned. We do not have the Energodar nuclear power plant under control here, thirty kilometers from our city, and the Russians are boycotting all forms of cooperation,” says Anatolii Kurtiev, 46 years old and the mayor of Zaporizhia for seven months. We meet him in his office hours after the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, urged inspectors for access and made it clear that the situation is deteriorating and the plant needs “urgent repairs”.
Mr Mayor, after meeting President Zelenskyy in Kyiv, how do you assess the risk of a nuclear accident?
“The situation is serious. Still under control for now, but potentially dramatic. This is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Russian soldiers have occupied it since the beginning of March and since then they have been dictating the rules, we can do very little».
But didn’t the Ukrainian technicians stay on site?
«Yes, it is true that some of our technicians stayed from the original group, but many left with their families. For those on the ground, the work is very difficult, they have their guns pointed at their backs, the Russian soldiers are armed and behaving like an occupying army. Also, their numbers are not enough to monitor the entire facility, they are forced to work grueling shifts, they have no time to rest.”
what can be done
“I don’t have the technical knowledge to say that. All I know is that yesterday (two days ago, editor’s note) was the 36th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, a catastrophe that shook the lives of many people, even today there are people dying of cancer, the caused by this radiation. Energodar is much more powerful than Chernobyl, so the consequences of a reactor failure would be much more serious».
Did the Russians place heavy weapons nearby?
“We know that they have deployed artillery and batteries of Grad missiles. Recently, their missiles have been flying through the facility’s airspace, and this also strikes me as a serious and reckless action.”
But can you communicate with the Russians at the plant?
«Impossible, they want to destroy us, how could we cooperate? At the beginning of March they even fired on the reactors, that was crazy! There is no dialogue with them today ».
Do you monitor the radiation status?
“We’ve been doing this every day for decades, with particular attention since the start of the war on February 24. Every morning I now post the radioactivity data myself on Telegram, which is public and available to every citizen. Our city is 30 kilometers as the crow flies from the reactors ».
So?
«The values were always within the norm, within the safety parameters. We have never registered any significant radioactive leaks ».
Do you have contingency plans in case?
“Of course we’ve always had them. The power plant was built from 1980, when Ukraine was part of the USSR and even then huge bunkers were dug in the city center to protect the population. But we also know that given the radiation, it is best to escape, so we have plans for mass evacuations ».
The Russian advance guard lines are about 30 kilometers from here, how many residents does the city have?
“We were over 700,000, less than 450,000 were left, plus the refugees fleeing the south and Donbass. They are huge masses of displaced people: every day we have to welcome them and feed them, about 35,000 have taken shelter in urban reception centers ».
Do you think Putin can hold the May 9 parade in Mariupol to celebrate the anniversary of the “Patriotic War”?
“I’m not a soldier. I don’t know the military situation, but it seems clear to me that our fighters, encircled in the steelworks, have every intention of corrupting Putin’s party ».
But what do you know about the condition of the wounded and the civilians imprisoned in the Azovstal tunnels?
“I know it’s a terrible situation down there and it’s getting worse every day: there is a lack of food, water, medicine… We hope in the humanitarian corridors that they will be evacuated, here we are waiting for them, but the Russians are blocking them . But I also know that if we gave up, Putin would up the ante: his ultimate goal remains the capture of Kyiv and the end of our freedom. Surrender would mean the eclipse of our national independence.
April 27, 2022 (Change April 27, 2022 | 23:17)
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