Status: 10.06.2022 12:40 am
After Russia announced it would nationalize the Zaporizhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, concerns about the plant’s safety increased. IAEA chief Grossi is in Kyiv today for negotiations. Meanwhile, attacks on the city of Zaporizhia continue.
Ukraine is making progress in recapturing Russian-held territories, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. After Russian forces withdrew from the front lines in the south and east, Ukrainian troops liberated three more towns in the Kherson region, Zelenskyy said in his daily video speech: Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka.
Meanwhile, attacks on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia continue. According to Ukrainian sources, seven Russian rockets hit residential buildings in the early morning. Two people died and at least five were still trapped in the rubble, said the region’s governor, Oleksandr Staruch. Many people were rescued from the multi-story buildings. Authorities reported another rocket attack late in the morning but did not give immediate information about casualties or damage.
Shaded in white: Russian army advance. Shaded in green: Russian-backed separatist areas. Crimea: annexed by Russia. Image: ISW/4.10.2022
Nationalized Zaporizhia NPP
Russian President Putin had already continued the administrative annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia. After initially signing ratification of the annexation on Wednesday, he instructed the government in Moscow to nationalize Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear plant, which is occupied by Russian troops. “The government is instructed to ensure that the objects for the use of nuclear energy from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and other properties necessary for its operation are taken as state property,” said the decree published on Wednesday.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russia has effectively controlled the nuclear plant since early March, when Moscow troops occupied much of southern Ukraine as part of the war of aggression. So far, however, Ukrainian technicians have ensured the operation of the nuclear plant.
The plant has been attacked several times during intense fighting in recent months and has also had to be closed. Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the damage. The bombing sparked international concerns of a nuclear catastrophe.
Ukraine: President of Enerhoatom runs nuclear plant
Despite the Russian announcement, the head of Ukrainian nuclear power company Enerhoatom, Petro Kotin, said he would take over the management of the nuclear plant. Kotin said he will manage the Kyiv nuclear power plant. Ukrainian workers continue to work under Russian supervision at the plant, whose last reactor was shut down in September.
Vassili Golod, WDR, at the visit of IAEA Chief Grossi in Kyiv
Lunch Magazine, October 6, 2022
Grossi calls for a nuclear safety zone around the nuclear plant
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is expected for talks in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv today. “The need for a nuclear safety zone around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is more urgent than ever,” Grossi wrote on Twitter late on Wednesday before leaving for Kyiv.
The IAEA chief also wants to pay a visit to Moscow afterwards. Grossi had announced that he would travel to both capitals throughout the week to discuss the issue of nuclear safety – in particular the risks associated with the disputed Zaporizhia nuclear plant.
Reports of torture of nuclear power plant employees
Meanwhile, officials at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant reported kidnappings and torture by Russian occupiers. They constantly tried to intimidate workers with beatings and other forms of abuse to get them to keep the plant running – or to punish those who expressed their support for Kyiv.
About 4,000 nuclear workers have fled since the Russian invasion. Those who stayed tell about the threat of kidnapping and torture. These reports were substantiated by an incident last Friday: Russian forces allegedly kidnapped the factory manager, Ihor Murashov, as he was returning home from work. On Monday, they apparently released him – after he was forced to make false statements in front of the camera, as Enerhoatom boss Kotin puts it. “I would call it mental torture,” he told the AP news agency. “He had to explain that the bombing of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant was carried out by Ukrainian forces and that he is a Ukrainian spy… in contact with the Ukrainian special forces.”
Mayor: More than 1000 people kidnapped
In all, more than 1,000 people, including nuclear workers, were kidnapped from the city of Enohodar, estimates Mayor Orlov, who fled to Zaporizhia – the nearest city under Ukrainian control – after refusing to cooperate with the Russians. Kotin suspects that 100 to 200 people are still being held.
Mayor Orlov accused the Russians of torturing abductees at various locations in Enerhodar, including the city’s police station, basements and the nuclear power plant. “Horrible things are happening there. People who managed to get out say there was torture with electric shocks, beatings, rapes, shootings.” Some would not have survived.