Russian soldiers ‘tortured’ Ukrainian workers from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Workers at Ukrainian power plants claim they were tortured by Russian invaders after defiantly refusing to “help” during the nuclear plant’s occupation last year.
Speak against The timesworkers at the Zaporizhzhia power plant in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar told how they were mistreated by invading forces.
For months, armies fought tirelessly around Europe’s largest power station, which remained manned by Ukrainian workers under Russian control until September.
An anonymous alleged victim said, “I had bruises and blood on my face. I had been beaten on the head and body with a rubber baton…they held a gun with rubber bullets about two feet from my leg and fired.”
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine has been occupied since February 2022
A Ukrainian soldier on a tank conducts target practice at a special firing range near the front line during the war between Russia and Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on March 29, 2023
Members of the Ukrainian state emergency service clear the rubble at the building that was destroyed as a result of a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia district, Ukraine, Friday, March 31, 2023
Ihor Murashov, the factory’s director, was arrested last September after refusing to work for the intruders. He evaded torture and was released after negotiations between Putin, French President Macron and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi.
Others told how they were held and beaten, shot at with rubber bullets for their support of Ukrainian forces.
Some claim that their colleagues were killed by Russian troops during the occupation.
About 11,000 workers were working at the Zaporizhzhia power station when Russian troops reclaimed the occupation on February 24, 2022, the first day of the war.
As reported in The Times, the invaders ‘apparently’ thought they would be welcome if they tried to exploit Ukraine’s resource-rich southeast.
One staffer explained that the troops became frustrated after workers refused to work for Russia’s benefit. Soon after, they began sending employees “down to the basement.”
The Zaporizhzhia power station is one of the ten largest in the world and was responsible for almost half of the nuclear production of Ukraine’s four reactors.
Ukrainian forces had little luck recovering the plant from March 3, with missiles from both sides coming dangerously close to the station.
Five months later, Mr. Grossi warned about the structural integrity of the power plant and sought permission from both sides inspect It.
Both sides accused each other of sabotaging the IAEA mission.
Energoatom, which operates the four reactors in Ukraine, warned last August that rockets fired back and forth risked a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster.
They suggested that Russian shelling was aimed specifically at fuel-handling containers.
Russia claimed Ukraine’s 44th Artillery Brigade stabbed the plant for a third time.
Tensions rose in August when Zelensky called on the international community to respond to Russian shelling of the site.
On August 23, the head of the energy industry in Ukraine supposedly that Russian troops had tortured the nuclear plant’s personnel.
Petro Kotin said, “They captured about 1,100 site personnel and kept them in their facilities, the captured facilities and police facilities in Enerhodar city.
“One person has been killed. Another person was seriously injured.
“They are trying to pressure them to accept the Russian world. All kinds of psychological pressure on them.’
Two days later, the power plant was disconnected from the grid, reportedly due to shelling. The site was forced to fall back on diesel generators.
It was the first time the power station had been disconnected from Ukraine’s national power grid in nearly 40 years of operation. In the weeks that followed, the station went on and off.
UN experts were finally able to inspect the site on September 1, 2022.
Blackouts continued sporadically as the region became a fixed point of the front line.
Mr Grossi, who continued to visit the site for inspections organized by Russia, said the “plant and physical integrity of the plant” had been “violated several times.”
Members of the Ukrainian state emergency service clear the rubble at the building that was destroyed as a result of a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia district, Ukraine, Friday, March 31, 2023
A police officer inspects the remains of a Russian missile that hit a residential area during the Russian attack on Ukraine on April 9, 2023 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine
A photo taken during a visit to Enerhodar shows Rosatom farm assistant Renat Korchma (L) talking to IAEA director Rafael Mariano Grossi (R) at the Zaporizhzhia plant
Since then, there have also been more reports of torture at the station.
In March 2023, Mr. Murashov told of how staff members were dragged away to a place known as ‘the pit’ at a nearby police station. If they returned at all, they were found severely beaten.
Mr Kontin said at the time that only about 4,600 of the factory’s workforce were still working last month.
They had been given an April 1 deadline to sign the contacts that would bind them to work for Rosatram, a Russian-owned nuclear company.
Just over half had signed, Kontin claimed, with the rest still defiant.