Russian soldiers are accused of torturing workers at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and coercing them into abducting their children.
More than 1,000 technicians were reportedly held hostage at the plant
Russian soldiers are accused of torturing Ukrainian workers at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and abducting their children to cooperate with them.
The head of Ukraine’s nuclear inspectorate claimed that more than 1,000 technicians were held hostage at the plant.
Oleg Korikov told Eye Paper that victims are being tortured, beaten and detained. Even the Russians are using their children to coerce them.
He added: ‘They take the children and take them to Russia to manipulate the workers, so they can do something wrong with their children in case of non-compliance or disagreement.’
“There are many cases of workers being beaten up, there are many cases of keeping them in jail,” he said.
Russian soldiers accused of torturing Ukrainian workers at Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (pictured)
Ukraine’s nuclear inspector Oleg Korikov (pictured) warned that victims were being tortured, beaten and detained.
Earlier this month there were growing concerns that Moscow was planning to ‘blow up’ the Zaporizhia nuclear plant after falsely accusing the Ukrainian military of shelling the site.
The claim was prompted by intelligence that Russian soldiers had placed ‘explosive-like objects’ on top of some power units, President Zelensky alleged.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman responded that ‘there was a major threat of sabotage by the Kiev regime, which could have disastrous consequences’.
While the power plant is still staffed by Ukrainians, Kiev has compared their status to that of hostages, as they operate under the control of Russian military forces who seized the site last March.
Taking Zelensky’s claims very seriously, the United Nations demanded on July 5 that the International Atomic Energy Agency be allowed to inspect parts of the plant.
The agency said it had requested additional access to ‘confirm the absence of mines or explosives at the site’, which included ‘the roof of reactor units 3 and 4’, the turbine hall and ‘parts of the cooling system’.
On July 5, the United Nations demanded that the International Atomic Energy Agency be allowed to inspect parts of the plant.
An aerial view of the nuclear power plant, pictured on June 30, 2023
Despite apparently having no access to these critical areas, the IAEA also stated that ‘the military presence at the site remained unchanged’.
Director General Raffaele Mariano Grossi added: ‘With increasing military tension and activity in the region where this major nuclear power plant is located, our experts must be able to verify the facts on the ground.
‘Their independent and objective reporting will help clarify the current situation at the site, which is crucial at a time with unsupported allegations and counter-allegations.’