Mayor: Part of Rosatom employees leave Russian-occupied nuclear plant

About 100 employees of Russian nuclear monopoly Rosatom have left Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the Russian-occupied town of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, the town's mayor, said on July 2.

The report comes amid warnings by the Ukrainian authorities that Russia may be planning a terrorist attack at the plant.

Some of the Ukrainian collaborators who signed contracts with Rosatom have also left Enerhodar, Orlov said.

According to Orlov, up to 6,000 plant workers are currently in the town but they are not allowed to work at the plant unless they sign a contract with Rosatom.

“The occupation authorities do not allow them to leave the town,” he added.

In addition, there are no shelters in the town where people could hide in case of an explosion at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Orlov said.

“The occupiers are using the plant to blackmail the whole world,” he added.

On March 4 last year, shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russians occupied the plant, and since December, any civilian evacuation from the city has been blocked.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 22 that, based on intelligence reports, Russia is planning a terrorist attack at the plant through radiation leakage.