Russian forces have detained two employees of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, who have been providing information on troops and hardware locations to Kiev’s forces, the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) said on Wednesday.
“Apart from that, a violator of access control [to the plant], an accomplice of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who transmitted the coordinates of the movement of columns of Russian military hardware, has been detained,” they added.
After seizing control of the power station on March 4, Russian forces have detained 26 violators of access control to the plant – the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the National Guard revealed. The facility continues to operate with local staff, while Russian troops patrol the premises and check for explosive devices and unexploded munitions, the National Guard said.
They noted that “Specialists of the nuclear, biological and chemical defense of the National Guard, together with colleagues from the Ministry of Defense, daily, several times a day, monitor the situation by measuring radiation levels at control points along the perimeter of the facility.”
In recent weeks, the nuclear power plant and the nearby city of Energodar have been repeatedly shelled by Kiev’s forces. The attacks damaged multiple buildings on the premises of the plant, causing fires and power outages, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Moscow has warned that the continuing attacks could ultimately render the power plant inoperable and might even result in a major disaster similar to the one in Chernobyl in 1986. Kiev and some Western officials, however, have accused Russia of shelling the plant, despite the fact that it is controlled by Russia’s own troops.