Russia-Ukraine war: Nuclear workers recount abuse, threats

POWER ENGINEERS LIKE ME

AP
By Hanna Arhirova
5 Oct, 2022 

Alone in his apartment in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine, nuclear plant security guard Serhiy Shvets looked out his kitchen window in late May and saw gunmen approaching on the street below. When his buzzer rang, he was sure he was about to die.

Shvets, a former soldier in Ukraine's military who was loyal to Kyiv, knew the gunmen would either kill or abduct and torture him. He thought briefly about recording a farewell to his family, who had fled to safety abroad, but instead lit a cigarette and grabbed his gun.

Six Russian soldiers broke down his door and opened fire, which he returned. Wounded in the hand, thigh, ear and stomach, Shvets began to lose consciousness. Before he did, he heard the commander of the group tell his men to cease fire and call an ambulance.

Shvets, who survived the shooting, is among workers from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant recounting their fears of being abducted and tortured or killed by Russian forces occupying the facility and the city of Enerhodar. Ukrainian officials say the Russians have sought to intimidate the staff into keeping the plant running, through beatings and other abuse, but also to punish those who express support for Kyiv.

Serhiy Shvets, an employee at Europe's largest Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Photo / AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia was taking ownership of the plant. With his decree, he ordered the creation of a state company to manage the facility and said all workers now need Russian permission to work there.

Ukraine condemned the "illegal" Russian takeover attempt and called on the West to impose sanctions on the Russian state nuclear operator, Rosatom, and for all countries to limit civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia.

Ukraine's state nuclear operator, Energoatom, said it considers Putin's decree "worthless" and "absurd." It said the plant would continue to be operated by Energoatom as part of the Ukrainian energy system.

Life was good for employees of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) before the Russian invasion on February 24. They were guaranteed a financially secure and stable life for their families.

And even though Ukraine still bears the psychological scars of the world's worst atomic accident at Chornobyl in 1986, the Zaporizhzhia plant - Europe's largest nuclear facility with its six reactors - provided jobs for about 11,000 people, making Enerhodar with its pre-war population of 53,000 one of the wealthiest cities in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / AP

But after Russia occupied the city early in the war, that once-comfortable life turned into a nightmare.

The invaders overran the ZNPP, about six kilometres from Enerhodar, but kept the Ukrainian staff in place to run it. Both sides accused the other of shelling the plant, damaging power lines connecting it to the grid and raising an international alarm for its safety. Ukrainian officials say the Russians used the plant as a shield as they shelled nearby towns.

Reports of intimidation of the staff and abductions began trickling out over the summer. Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation's atomic watchdog, told The Associated Press about reports of violence between the Russians and the Ukrainian staff.

Grossi travelled to Kyiv on Wednesday and will be in Russia later to hold consultations on Moscow's intention to take over the plant and to continue his push for a safety zone to be established around it, the IAEA said in a statement.

About 4,000 ZNPP workers have fled. Those who stayed cited threats of kidnap and torture, underscored by the abduction of plant director Ihor Murashov, who was seized and blindfolded by Russian forces on his way home from work.

He was freed after being forced to make false statements on camera, according to Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom. He told AP Murashov was released at the edge of Russian-controlled territory and walked about 15km to a Ukrainian-held area.

A Russian serviceman guards in an area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station. Photo / AP

"I would say it was mental torture," Kotin said of what Murashov suffered. "He had to say that all the shelling on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was made by Ukrainian forces and that he is a Ukrainian spy... in contact with Ukrainian special forces."

- AP

Russia says it will supervise Zaporizhzhia

nuclear plant after annexation

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian forces, in Ukraine on Aug. 28, 2022. Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant , built during the Soviet era and one of the 10 biggest in the world, has been engulfed by fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops in recent weeks, fueling concerns of a nuclear catastrophe.  Planet Labs PBC via AP

Russia plans to supervise operations of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after formally annexing the wider Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine this week, the state-owned RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a foreign ministry official.

Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in early March shortly after invading Ukraine, but Ukrainian staff had continued to operate it. Both Moscow and Kyiv have since accused each other of shelling the facility, risking a nuclear disaster.

“The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is now on the territory of the Russian Federation and, accordingly, should be operated under the supervision of our relevant agencies,” RIA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin as saying.

It was not clear how Russia planned to operate the plant and if it would try and introduce its own staff to the complex.

Another state-owned Russian news agency, TASS, reported that Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss the situation at the plant.

Russia acted to annex Zaporizhzhia and three other regions after holding what it called referendums — votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive. Moscow does not fully control any of the regions.