Ukrainian personnel refuse to comply with Russia's order to start fourth power unit at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
The management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was appointed illegally by Russia and has been ordered to start the fourth power unit, but the Ukrainian staff won't obey.
Energoatom reported this.
"Yurii Chernichuk, illegally appointed by the Russian authorities as the "general director" of the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP, is persuading nuclear workers who refused to sign fake contracts with Rosatom to launch the fourth power unit," the report says.
Energoatom noted that the station's Ukrainian staff refuses to comply with the order, as it violates the operating license from the State Nuclear Regulatory Commission of Ukraine. About 30 licensed workers left the ZNPP during the last week due to the occupiers' constant physical and psychological pressure. They returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine.
"Currently, the operative personnel brought from the Russian Federation are completely incompetent and do not have the relevant experience," Energoatom points out.
Energoatom said that Chernichuk is currently working to involve Ukrainian workers at the station, who had previously been denied access to the ZNPP because they declined to sign a contract with Rosatom.
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The Russians occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP at the end of February 2022. Since then, personnel and military equipment have been permanently stationed there, which the invaders keep in machine rooms and, from time to time, take out to positions for shelling the territories of the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, located on the other side of the Kakhovka reservoir.
The IAEA monitoring mission is stationed at the NPP to ensure it isn't being used for military purposes and to prevent attack and shelling. They also need to provide the electricity supply from external sources isn't interrupted. However, power outages are a common issue at the ZNPP. Since the beginning of last year, the occupants have been bringing explosives to Zaporizhzhia NPP.
It became known in May 2023 that the Russians placed explosives in the turbine compartment of the fourth power unit of the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP. Also, the occupiers almost destroyed the nuclear plant's emergency preparedness and response system.
On June 22, IAEA Director General Grossi, after visiting the ZNPP, said that the situation there is precarious. On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that intelligence had received information that Russia was considering a scenario of a terrorist act at the temporarily occupied ZNPP, which would cause the release of radiation.
Subsequently, the head of the State Security Service, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that Russia had completed preparations for a terrorist attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. After that, large-scale exercises were held in four regions of Ukraine in case of a terrorist attack at the ZNPP.
On June 30, Ukraine's intelligence reported that the occupiers were gradually leaving the ZNPP, and Ukrainian workers who signed a contract with Rosatom also received evacuation recommendations. In addition, the station staff received an order to blame Ukraine for any emergency. And on July 2, the mayor of the temporarily occupied Energodar, Dmytro Orlov, announced that part of Rosatom's employees and collaborators who signed a contract with the company had left the ZNPP.
On the night of July 4, Zaporizhzhia NPP lost power from the main power transmission line; the station was connected to the only available backup line. Later, Ukraine's armed forces officially informed about the possible preparation of a provocation by the occupiers at the ZNPP – on the roof of power units 3 and 4, the Russians placed suspicious devices similar to explosives.
At the OSCE Security Cooperation Forum meeting on July 5, the European Union declared that Russia must instantly halt activities endangering nuclear site safety and remove troops from Ukraine. At the same time, the Director General of the IAEA, Raphael Grossi, stated that the agency did not detect signs of mining at the ZNPP. According to him, despite this, experts are "vigilant." Later, satellite images of Planet Labs, taken on the morning of July 5, appeared, which recorded the appearance of unknown objects on the roof of the fourth power unit of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The General Staff previously reported on the mining of this power unit.
At the same time, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said on July 6 that the threat of a terrorist attack at the Zaporizhzhia NPP is decreasing. However, the president of Energoatom later reported that there are currently about 700 Russians at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The station was mined, and machine gun nests were set up on the roofs of the power units. Energoatom also reported that the invaders let specialists from the Russian Federation work at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, although they lacked the necessary expertise and skills to manage the plant.
On July 7, the United States in the OSCE called on the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its troops from ZNPP and return it to the control of Ukraine, as it is concerned about reports of Russian mining of the plant and plans to conduct an operation "under a foreign flag." It also became known that day that the IAEA mission had the opportunity to inspect several objects of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, except for the roof. Still, it did not find any signs of explosives.
The territory of the occupied ZNPP was also visited by the first deputy head of Putin's administration Serhiy Kiriyenko. The visit took place against the background of the release of information about mining by the occupiers of the ZNPP.
Instead, Ukrainian intelligence noted that the occupiers continued to mine Zaporizhzhia NPP and facilities on the station's territory. Explosives and mine-explosive barriers are installed. The Ministry of Defense emphasized the enemy's mining of technical facilities and machine rooms.
On July 14, it became known that about 500 Russian military personnel and Rosatom employees are currently stationed at the ZNPP; in particular, they use the station to shell the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Later, the president of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, reported that the Russians continue to mine the ZNPP. The occupiers also use the station as their military base.
On July 19, Ukrainian intelligence warned that Russia plans to carry out another armed provocation on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "under a foreign flag."
