Ukraine’s Enerhoatom accuses Russia of kidnapping Director General of Zaporizhzhia NPP

Russian servicemen have kidnapped Ihor Murashov, Director General of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, reports Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency Enerhoatom.

According to the agency’s statement, Murashov was detained by Russian soldiers on his way from the NPP to the city of Enerhodar. “The vehicle of the Director General of the NPP was stopped, he was taken out of the car, and with his eyes blindfolded he was driven in an unknown direction. For the time being, there is no information on his fate.”

The agency also states that Murashov “bears main and exclusive responsibility for the nuclear and radiation safety” of the plant, and his detention “jeopardises the safety of operation of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant”.

Enerhoatom’s President Petro Kotin demanded that Russian soldiers that control the NPP and Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom personnel present at the plant immediately stopped “the acts of nuclear terrorism towards the management and personnel of the ZNPP” and released the plant’s Director General so he could “return to his responsibilities on maintaining safe operation” of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

He also appealed to Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi and Chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) Tom Mitchell to “take all possible immediate actions to urgently free“ Murashov.

Previously, Russia and Ukraine accused each other several times of shelling the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. On 17 September, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that the plant had been reconnected to Ukraine’s electricity grid. In early September, the IAEA experts published a report upon their visit to the plant. The report said that creating a “protection zone” around the facility’s premises was a necessary solution to prevent the potential damages caused by shelling which might lead to “a nuclear incident”. Moreover, the report noted that the facility’s personnel was in low spirits and physically exhausted.