Russian forces are evacuating residents from the area near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, with more than 1,600 people, including 660 children, evacuated so far, a Moscow-installed official in the region has said.
The head of the UN’s nuclear power watchdog warned on Saturday that the situation around the plant had become “potentially dangerous”. Ukraine is soon expected to start a much-anticipated counteroffensive to retake Russian-held territory, including in the Zaporizhzhia region
“[The evacuees] have already been placed in the temporary accommodation centre for residents of the frontline territories of the Zaporizhzhia region in Berdiansk,” Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of the Russia-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia region, said.
Berdiansk is a south-eastern Ukrainian port city on the coast of the Sea of Azov which has been occupied by Russia since the early days of Moscow’s invasion.
In its morning update on Sunday, Ukraine’s general staff said Russian forces were evacuating local Russian passport-holders.
“The first to be evacuated are those who accepted Russian citizenship in the first months of the occupation,” it said in a statement.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called for measures to ensure the safe operation of Europe’s largest nuclear plant as evacuations continued.
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” Grossi said on the agency’s website.
“I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant. We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment.”
Grossi said that while the operating staff of the plant remained at the site, the conditions for the personnel and their families were “increasingly tense.”
Both sides have accused one another of shelling the plant and efforts to secure a safety zone around it have failed.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant days after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Exchanges of fire have frequently occurred near the facility, with each side blaming the other.
Grossi last visited the Zaporizhzhia station in March, as part of efforts to speak to both sides to secure an agreement on safeguards to ensure the plant’s safe operation.
He has repeatedly warned of the dangers of military operations around the plant.
The plant is located in the part of that region under Russian control, with many of the staff operating it living in Enerhodar on the South Bank of the Dnieper River.