Director of Zaporizhia NPP arrested by Russians, Ukrainian state agency Energoatom reports
The director of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, located in Ukrainian territory but occupied by Russian troops, was arrested by a Russian patrol, said on Saturday 1er October, the public company responsible for operating the Energoatom site.
Ihor Murachov was arrested by Russian forces as he was traveling to Enerhodar, the plant’s satellite town, on Friday around 4 p.m. (3 p.m. French time), group chairman Petro Kotin said in a statement. . “He was taken out of the car, blindfolded and driven to an unknown destination”he explained on Telegram messaging, adding that he had no immediate information on his fate.
It came just hours after Mr Putin, in a sharp escalation of his war, signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, a facility currently occupied by Russian troops and located in an area of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved to illegally annex, has become one of the key issues of the conflict in Ukraine, kyiv and Moscow accusing each other of bombing the site at the risk of triggering a nuclear catastrophe.
Ihor Murachov “takes exclusive responsibility for nuclear and radioactive safety” of the site and his arrest “jeopardizes the safety of the activities of the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and Europe”, underlined Petro Kotin. He called on Russian troops to “immediately cease acts of nuclear terrorism targeting management and personnel” site and to release Mr. Murachov.
Moscow did not immediately admit having arrested the director of the plant, according to the Associated Press (AP). The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has staff on the site of the plant, also did not immediately acknowledge Energoatom’s statement concerning the capture of Mr. Murachov, further specifies PA.
Ukrainian technicians continued to operate the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant after Russian troops seized it. The last reactor was shut down in September amid continued shelling near the facility.