The mayor of the city where the facility is located stated on Sunday that the danger of an accident at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is “increasing every day.” The largest plant in Europe was taken over by Russian troops early in the invasion, and it has been on the front lines ever since. The infrastructure has been attacked numerous times this week, with Kyiv and Moscow sharing the blame for the perilous escalation.
The mayor of the city of Energodar in the region’s southeast stated that because Russian soldiers are “shelling the infrastructure that ensures the safe operation of the station,” “the risks are increasing every day.” Dmytro Orlov spoke with AFP over the phone from Zaporizhzhia, which is still a Ukrainian territory, “what is happening there is outright nuclear terrorism. It can end unpredictably at any moment. “
Kyiv has charged Moscow with stationing troops and weaponry there, initiating assaults, and using the nuclear plant as cover from retaliatory fire. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of using the plant to “intimidate people in an extremely cynical way” and nuclear “blackmail” in his broadcast address on Saturday. On Thursday, the UN Security Council convened an emergency session to discuss the situation and issued a warning that a “grave” crisis was developing in Zaporizhzhia.
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Orlov added that Energodar, which he left at the end of April, had begun to receive shelling for the first time in the previous day, and that the number of people wishing to flee had significantly increased. He expressed concern that there would not be enough staff to staff the station in the “near future.” When a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded and released radiation into the atmosphere in 1986, Ukraine was the scene of the worst nuclear disaster in history.
(with inputs from agencies)
