Russia Denies That It Plans to Vacate Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on Oct. 14, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Pro-Moscow officials have dismissed claims by Kyiv and Ukrainian media outlets that Russian forces and personnel are planning to vacate the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

“Kyiv-controlled media outlets have been actively spreading fake reports that Russia plans to pull out of [the city of] Enerhodar and leave the ZNPP,” Enerhodar’s Moscow-appointed military-civilian administration said in a statement on Nov. 28.

“These reports are untrue,” the statement, which was cited by Russia’s TASS news agency, reads.

The ZNPP is located in the city of Enerhodar, which sits on the southern bank of the Dnieper River in the northwestern portion of the Zaporizhzhia region.

An International Atomic Energy Agency mission coming back from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant crosses a Ukrainian checkpoint on Sept. 1, 2022. (Anna Voitenko/Reuters)

Russian forces captured most of Zaporizhzhia, including Enerhodar, within the first two weeks of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which last week entered its 10th month. The power plant is currently guarded by Russian military units and overseen by Russian nuclear specialists.

Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s state-run nuclear energy firm, recently said Russian forces and personnel appeared set to vacate the facility.

“In recent weeks, we are effectively receiving information that signs have appeared that they are possibly preparing to leave,” Kotin said in televised remarks on Nov. 27.

He cited “Russian media reports” suggesting that Moscow was mulling “handing control” of the plant to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog.

“One gets the impression they’re packing their bags and stealing everything they can,” Kotin said.

New Labor Agreements

But the following day, Enerhodar’s Moscow-appointed administration dismissed the claim, saying that ZNPP personnel were currently being transferred to Russian legal jurisdiction.

Efforts “to move the staff from the jurisdiction of the NNEGC [Ukraine’s nuclear energy company] to that of the [Russian-controlled] ZNPP Operating Organization is going according to plan,” the administration stated.

It stated that ZNPP staff members, including “operational personnel,” had already “signed labor agreements with their new employer.”

Kyiv, for its part, says the transfer of the plant—and its staff—from Ukrainian to Russian legal jurisdiction amounts to “theft.”

Before the conflict, the ZNPP, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, had provided Ukraine with roughly one-fifth of its total electricity needs. Built in the 1980s, the Soviet-era nuclear plant has six reactors, all of which are currently shut down.

In late September, Zaporizhzhia—along with the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson—was formally incorporated into the Russian Federation.

Earlier this month, Russian forces withdrew from the northern bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region, which neighbors Zaporizhzhia to the west.

Nuke Plant Under Fire

Since Russian forces assumed control of the ZNPP, the facility has come under frequent artillery fire, sparking fears of a potential environmental catastrophe. While Russia has consistently blamed Ukrainian forces for the bombardments, Kyiv says that Russia and its local allies are responsible.

On Nov. 19 and Nov. 20, the ZNPP was subjected to a fresh wave of artillery barrages following a two-month hiatus.

The Russian Defense Ministry swiftly accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant from the nearby Dnepropetrovsk region.

According to the ministry, Ukrainian forces fired 25 artillery shells at the facility, one of which allegedly struck the roof of a building in which nuclear fuel is stored.

On Nov. 21, the Vienna-based IAEA dispatched a team to the plant, with the ostensible aim of carrying out an assessment.

UN Calls for Halt to Attacks

The following day, Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said the IAEA had been unable to determine which side was responsible for the shelling.

“We don’t have an ability to determine attacks,” Haq told reporters, according to the U.N.’s official transcript of the press conference.

“We want all of the attacks to stop.”

Haq went on to say that the IAEA “is in the lead on this, and if they get any information, we expect they will share that with all concerned.”

On Nov. 23, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi met a Russian delegation in Istanbul to discuss a Russian proposal to establish a “protection zone” around the beleaguered facility.

Two days later, Vladimir Rogov, a pro-Moscow official in Zaporizhzhia, said a Russian-enforced “safety zone” was the only viable solution to the crisis.

“If we want safety for that important facility, safety for the people living in Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia Region ... then only this formula is workable,” he said.

Ukrainian Troops Repulsed: Russia

Russian forces and their local allies currently hold roughly 75 percent of the Zaporizhzhia region.

Although the region’s front line has remained static for months, it remains the scene of frequent artillery duels between the warring sides.

On Nov. 28, Rogov claimed that several recent Ukrainian attempts to break through Russian defenses in Zaporizhzhia had been repulsed.

“In just four days, we have had four or five [Ukrainian] counterattack attempts ... to break through the defense line,” he was quoted as saying by TASS.

“All of them were thwarted.”

The Epoch Times was unable to verify the official’s claims.

Reuters contributed to this report.