Russian-installed officials have announced an evacuation from frontline areas in the Zaporizhzhia region, including Enerhodar. Moscow claims the nuclear plant, which provided a fifth of Ukraine's electricity needs before the war, now belongs to Russia after Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin declared partially-occupied Zaporizhzhia as Russian land along with three other Ukrainian regions last September. Russia has laid fortifications stretching from western Russia to Crimea and the trenchwork is particularly extensive on the way from Ukrainian-held land south to Melitopol, suggesting Moscow expects an attack there. Ukraine has announced plans to conduct a big push to recapture occupied land soon, and it is widely expected to strike in the south because of its strategic importance as a bridge to Crimea and the Black Sea. Two of the sources in Enerhodar said they saw Russian forces this month taking X-ray, laboratory and other equipment away in boxes from a hospital as well as equipment from closed Ukrainian banks in the city of Enerhodar. "In my opinion, they are preparing for evacuation, so they are bringing everything in one place to be ready to take everything and to get out of there," he said. He added that he believed Russian forces had already been conducting drills at the plant to practise pulling out. Kotin said Russian forces would have to retreat if it looked like that road was going to be cut off. The plant and city of Enerhodar are connected by a single main road to Melitopol, the biggest Russian-occupied city in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, which provides Russia with a land corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula. The plant lies on the southern banks of the Kakhovka reservoir, which serves as a natural barrier to Ukrainian-controlled land to the north. While the troop buildup and extra defences point to occupying forces digging in, there are also signs that the Russians have one eye on the exit. One of the workers saw tracer bullets fired across the night sky from the roof of one of the plant's buildings, probably at a drone. The four sources said they heard occasional blasts, which they assumed were from stray animals stepping on mines.
He is not able to access the facility, which is no longer operating, but has a network of contacts still there. Kotin estimated that Russian troop numbers at the plant had increased from around 500 to 1,500 in recent months. The backup generators have already kicked in six times for short periods when the power has gone done due to shelling, which Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other. "If all the pumps stop, you will have from one hour and a half hours to three days and you will have this meltdown," Kotin said. When that goes down, only backup diesel generators stand in the way of a meltdown. Kotin said the biggest threat to safety at the plant was that fighting could cut the last remaining external power line needed to cool the plant's reactors. In April, Japan contributed 2 million euros to the U.N.'s watchdog to help its efforts to secure the safety of the Zaporizhzhia power plant. "We think it is an alarming situation and we are closely watching," said Satoru Yasuraoka, a director of the nuclear energy policy division at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In Japan, where just over a decade ago an earthquake and tsunami cut power supply to the Fukushima nuclear power plant causing reactors to melt down, the government said it was keeping close tabs on Zaporizhzhia. Security Council later this month to protect the facility, four diplomats told Reuters. The agency plans to present a deal between Russia and Ukraine to the U.N. It has warned for months of the danger of a major accident at the plant. nuclear watchdog says that the military presence and activity is growing in the region, underlining the need for urgent action. But there is concern in the international community that the six-reactor nuclear plant, Europe's largest, could be caught up in fighting, particularly as military analysts expect Ukraine to try to push Russian forces back in the Zaporizhzhia region.
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