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The head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency told AFP on Friday that Russian troops controlling Ukraine’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant killed two workers at the facility and detained and abused dozens more.
The Zaporozhye plant – the largest in Europe – was occupied by Russian troops in March. The escalation of fighting over it in recent weeks has sparked fears of a nuclear catastrophe, with Moscow and Kyiv both blaming each other for the escalation.
Petro Kotin said that after the Russian takeover, “a system of harassment of people was gradually established”.
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“Two people were beaten to death. We don’t know where about ten people are now, they were taken (by the Russians) and we have no information on their whereabouts after that,” Curtin said, adding that about 200 people were detention.
He described the current situation at the factory as “very difficult”, citing the “torture” and “battering of employees”.
“The Russians are looking for pro-Ukrainian people and persecuting them. People have a mental breakdown,” he told AFP reporters from his office in Kyiv.
Kotin said the frequent shelling of the factory – including in the town of Energodar where the factory is located – meant that staff had been working hard to ensure safe passage for family members out of the area.
“Two people on factory territory were injured in the shelling – a woman and a man – on separate occasions,” said Curtin, who was wearing a military jacket.
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“But people understand that the nuclear safety of the plant depends on them, so employees returned to Energodar and continued to work at the facility,” he added.
The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent a 14-person delegation to the plant last week and issued a report after the inspection.
Curtin said it described the difficult psychological working conditions at the plant, which ultimately amounted to a “violation of radiation safety.”
“This situation must be rectified as soon as possible,” he told AFP.
In its report, the International Atomic Energy Agency called for the “immediate establishment of nuclear safety and security reserves” around nuclear power plants as it faced an “unsustainable” situation.
But Curtin said there is room for interpretation.​​​
“If it’s the demilitarization of the nuclear power plant, we fully support it. If it’s … to create some safe zone under common control with the Russians, then of course that’s an unacceptable decision for us,” Kerr said. Ting said.
“We will insist on a demilitarized zone around the factory, including the participation of peacekeeping groups,” he added.
Curtin also said Ukraine had insisted that Russia remove military hardware from the plant and that staff from Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom had also left the area.
“For this, international partners need to put a lot of pressure on Russia to meet the conditions set by the Ukrainian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
All power lines connected to the plant have been cut due to the shelling, Kotin added, and the only reactor still in operation “is operating at very low power levels”.
If those power lines are not restored, the station will go into blackout mode and rely on diesel engines to “cool the nuclear material,” Kotin said.
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Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency echoed that sentiment on Friday, saying nearby shelling caused a power outage at Energodar and jeopardized the safe operation of the plant.
Director-General Rafael Grossi described the recent shelling as a “dramatic development” in a statement on social media.
“It’s totally unacceptable. It’s unbearable,” he added.
“It is necessary to update the communication lines with the Ukrainian power system as soon as possible and supply it with electricity from an external energy supply,” Curtin stressed.
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