Russian-backed authorities have hit back against Ukrainian claims that Moscow is planning to leave the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant (NPP).
The administration of Russian-occupied Enerhodar has accused Ukraine of “actively spreading fakes” about a possible Russian withdrawal from the area.
Writing on Telegram, the occupying administration said “this information does not correspond to reality” and that Zaporizhzia NPP “remains under Russian control.”
On Sunday, Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy provider, said the company had received information that Russian forces may be preparing to leave the facility.
Kotin emphasized that “it is still too early to say that the Russian military is leaving the plant,’ but that they are “preparing.”
However the Russian-backed administration said that Rosenegeatom, a Russian state-run firm, has announced plans to “create a back-up power supply source for Zaporizhzhia NPP.”
A source at Rosenegeatom is quoted as saying that the company took into account “the great importance of the power supply reserve for the nuclear safety of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, especially in winter.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has not released any information supporting Kotin’s statement.
The plant and the area around it, including the nearby city of Enerhodar, have endured persistent shelling that has raised fears of a nuclear accident through the interruption of the power supply to the plant. Russia and Ukraine continue to blame each other for the shelling.
Earlier, The head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy provider says the company has received information that Russian forces may be preparing to leave the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“We are now observing signs that the Russian invaders may be preparing to leave,” Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom, said in a statement Sunday.
“First of all, a lot of publications began to appear in the Russian media that the Zaporizhzhia NPP should perhaps be left alone, perhaps it should be handed over to the (International Atomic Energy Agency) for control,” Kotin said in an interview with Ukrainian media Sunday. “It’s like, you know, they’re packing and they’re stealing whatever they can find.”
The IAEA has not released any information supporting Kotin’s statement.
The head of Energoatom emphasized that “it is still too early to say that the Russian military is leaving the plant,” but that they are “preparing.”
Kotin also claimed that Russians “crammed everything they could into the Zaporizhzhia NPP site — both military equipment and personnel, trucks, probably with weapons and explosives,” and that they mined the territory of the plant.
