Family begins to flee Zaporizhia as tensions rise at the nuclear power plant

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, now under Russian control, is run by Ukrainian staff.

Ukraine’s defense ministry said Russia may be planning a “massive terrorist attack” on factories to hold Kyiv accountable. Overheating of the core.

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When asked about the warning on Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said any false flag operations at factories “outside Russia’s strategy book. Blame others for what you’ve done or what you’re going to do.” I will.” He added that such statements were “a cause for concern” and said the United States was “watching very closely”.

Ukrainian state energy company Energoatom said the Russian military ordered factory workers to stay home on Friday amid heightened tensions and to limit the complex’s personnel to only those operating the factory’s power plant.

He added that he had received “intelligence” that the Russian military planned to switch off the power plant’s power block, disconnecting it from the Ukrainian power grid and depriving it of a major power source.

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During a tour of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa on Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for demilitarization around the power plant and warned against attempts to cut power to or from the facility.

“Obviously, electricity from Zaporizhia is Ukrainian electricity, it is necessary for the Ukrainian people, especially in winter, and this principle must be fully respected,” he said.

An employee based in Enerkhodar, a Russian-controlled town on the banks of the Dnieper River where a nuclear power plant is located, earlier this month spoke of the daily horrors of working at a nuclear facility. Key workers such as engineers and operations staff have fled to Ukrainian territory in recent weeks amid the deteriorating security situation, they said, adding to their concerns about the factory’s functioning.

Enerhoder, a town of about 50,000 people before the war, has almost no residents who have nothing to do with nuclear power.

With a name that means “gift of energy,” the city was built by the Soviet Union in 1970 for the families of workers at the riverside city’s coal-fired power plants. A nuclear power plant with a site area of ​​about half a square mile was added ten years later.

Concern about the country that caused the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 is also growing worldwide. The power station in northern Ukraine is now in Ukrainian hands after Russia withdrew in April.

“We have to tell the truth. The potential damage to Zaporizhia is suicide,” Guterres said Thursday following a high-level meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has rejected proposals to demilitarize the area around the Zaporizhia plant, saying it would make the facility “more vulnerable”.

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Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday that the presence of Russian troops near the power plant was a “guarantee” that the Chernobyl accident would not happen again.

“The recklessness with which our opponents are playing with nuclear safety poses a threat to Europe’s largest nuclear facility and the potential for huge territories not only surrounding the plant but well beyond Ukraine’s borders. It’s a big risk,” he told Russia’s Russia-1 TV channel.

Ryabkov also reiterated Moscow’s rejection of UN demands for a demilitarized zone around the power plant and warned parties against “carelessness” in pursuing “geopolitical goals.”

Last week, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned that shelling near the factory would create “significant nuclear safety and security risks” and would be “extremely embarrassing.” But Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi added that IAEA experts assessed that “no systems critical to nuclear safety and security were affected.”

The IAEA is seeking experts in the region, but requires consent from both Kyiv and Moscow.

Elsewhere in the troubled country, there are unconfirmed reports of air strikes on Russian air bases in occupied Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Fighting has also escalated in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, with Russian rockets continuing to cause damage and casualties early Friday morning, according to the local governor. At least 17 people were killed and 42 wounded in his two recent attacks by Russia, said Oleh Synyehubov.

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