Russia incited a “mad panic” by calling for the evacuation of a town near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday, May 5th, according to a Telegram post by Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol.
The Zaporizhzhia plant is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and a site inside the partly Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of the same name. Russia started the evacuation of 18 settlements around the plant on Friday, May 5th.
Fedorov also indicated on Twitter that people were being evacuated deeper into Russian-held territory.
Ukraine is expected to launch an intense counteroffensive in the coming days, which Russia is likely preparing for.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been monitoring the plant and is concerned that conditions in and around it will continue to deteriorate. The agency warned recently that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia facility was “becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous.”
The nuclear plant has been a source of concern for months. Russia occupies the site, though it is still operated—as much as it is operational—by Ukrainian staff. Russia is believed to be storing weapons inside the facility and both countries have accused each other of sending missiles into the vicinity of the plant. The plant has been offline for weeks but still contains reactive nuclear material. A cooling system integral to the safety of the plant has been running on a generator.
In an interview on the BBC’s Newshour programme, Rafael Grossi, the director of the IAEA, said his agency had also “received information that the announced evacuation of residents from the nearby town of Enerhodar—where most plant staff live—has started.”
Grossi also said that he had had to travel through a minefield to reach the plant during a visit a few weeks ago.
The region is the gateway to Melitopol, which is key to reaching Crimea.
