The Ukrainian state-owned nuclear company Enerhoatom announced that the Russians are planning to shut down the operating power units at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant and disconnect them from the Ukrainian power grid.
In a statement quoted by Reuters, Enerhoatom stated that Russian forces that control the plant are preparing to carry out a “large-scale provocation” there.
Moscow has previously accused the Ukrainian authorities of preparing a “provocation” at this facility.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, in an interview with the Ukrainian editorial office of the Voice of America, that The Russians want to redirect the energy produced by the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant to the Crimea and completely cut off the territories of Ukraine controlled by the government in Kiev from this energy.
The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine – the largest in Europe – was seized by Russian forces on the night of March 3-4. Russian soldiers and employees of the Russian Rosatom concern are stationed on the site. Ukrainian station employees are – according to media reports – killed, and Russian soldiers are shooting at the vicinity of the power plant, posing a serious risk of a nuclear disaster.
The Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported that on Friday the Russians are planning a provocation at the power plantas evacuated by the fact that they evacuated Rosatom employees from its premises and announced a day off for almost all personnel. According to HUR, only operational engineers were to come to work on Friday.