Terror at Zaporizhzhia NPP: Russia illegally detains 13 Ukrainian workers

After the seizure of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Russian military forces began exerting unprecedented pressure on the Ukrainian nuclear workers who refused to collaborate with the occupiers or sign contracts with the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Since the beginning of the occupation, over 5,000 specialists have managed to flee Enerhodar, and Energoatom continues to employ many of them across other units of the company.

However, the company reports that 13 workers have fallen into the hands of the occupiers:

• 7 have been sentenced on fabricated charges by occupation authorities.
• 3 remain imprisoned, awaiting sham verdicts.
• The whereabouts of 3 others are unknown, and they are considered missing.

A particularly tragic case is that of Andrii Honcharuk, a diver at the plant, who was tortured to death by Russian forces at the onset of the full-scale invasion.

According to Energoatom, Russia continues to use the Zaporizhzhia NPP as a military base, storing explosive ammunition on-site. Meanwhile, the plant's technical equipment is degrading, and any safe restart of the facility is currently out of the question.

Situation at Zaporizhzhia NPP

Russian forces occupied the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during the initial phase of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, they have blatantly violated nuclear safety regulations, posing serious risks of a nuclear incident. The occupying troops have stationed both military personnel and equipment within the plant's premises.

Earlier, Energoatom stated that the plant cannot be restarted, as its technical condition is critically deteriorated.

Back in 2022, Ukrainian experts warned that a potential disaster at Zaporizhzhia NPP could be ten times more destructive than Chornobyl, potentially making the entire Zaporizhzhia region uninhabitable and unsuitable for agriculture or economic activity.