Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant chief kidnapped by Moscow

THE head of Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station has been kidnapped by Russian forces, the stateowned company in charge of the plant said yesterday.

Ihor Murashov was abducted on his way from Europe’s largest nuclear plant to the town of Energodar on Friday afternoon, said Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom.

“He was taken out of the car, and with his eyes blindfolded he was driven in an unknown direction,” Mr Kotin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

He said there was no immediate word on Mr Murashov’s fate.

The Zaporizhzhia plant has been a focal point of Russia’s seven-month invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of shelling the facility, risking a nuclear disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that it was seeking “clarifications”.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has called for the creation of a demilitarised zone around the plant, which is staffed by Ukrainians

Mr Murashov “bears main and exclusive responsibility for the nuclear and radiation safety” of the plant and his detention “jeopardises the safety of operation of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant”, Mr Kotin said. He called on Russian forces to “stop immediately the acts of nuclear terrorism towards the management and personnel” of the plant and release Mr Murashov.

“The crime is yet another act of state terrorism by Russia and it represents a grave violation of international law. Russia must immediately release,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.

Russia has claimed the plant as war booty and has announced plans to disconnect it from the Ukrainian grid and force its staff to re-apply for their jobs with the Russian state nuclear energy company.

“Work has already begun on integrating Zaporizhzhia NPP and Energodar into the Russian legal field,” according to the pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar.

Management of the plant “must be completely loyal to Russia”, the channel said. Russian authorities later told the IAEA that Mr Murashov was “temporarily detained”

Mr Kotin said he had appealed to Rafael Grossi, the chief of the IAEA, to take “all possible immediate actions to urgently free” Mr Murashov.

He told the BBC that Russia was trying to force plant personnel to sign deals to work at Rosatom, the state nuclear energy agency.

The plant is in an area that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said would become part of his territory following annexation. Its six reactors are currently shut down but once produced about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.