About 15,000 people remain in temporarily occupied Enerhodar
The mayor of Enerhodar Dmytro Orlov said this on the air of the United News telethon, Ukrinform reports.
"Since December last year, it has been impossible to leave the occupation through the territory controlled by Ukraine. Today, about 15.000 civilians remain in the city, compared to 53.000 in the period before the occupation. Some of those who remain have already received Russian passports. Those who received them in the first months of the occupation did so of their own free will. However, today the occupiers exert maximum pressure and even torture those who refuse to give up their passports. Therefore, now, on the 15th month of the occupation, in many cases it has become a way to preserve their health and life," the mayor said.
Orlov added that total repression of the local population continues in the city, with the occupiers breaking in, looting and sealing empty apartments. They kidnap people who do not have a Russian passport and give them a week or two to get one.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has not been generating electricity since September 2022, but it is connected to the unified energy system of Ukraine and now only consumes electricity to ensure the operation of pumping and other equipment that ensures nuclear fuel cooling, nuclear and radiation safety.
According to Energoatom, all units are either in a cold state or, like Unit 5, in a hot shutdown state. The occupiers are not able to reconnect them and launch at least one of the units to Russian generation.
As for the staff, 11.000 people worked at ZNPP before the occupation.
"Today, about half of them remain in the city, but not all of them go to work. Those who have not signed a contract have their passes blocked. Now about 2.500-3.000 people go to the station, most of them already have a contractual relationship with the Russian fake company. But there are also those employees whom the occupiers simply cannot physically replace, and they continue to work without contracts with Rosatom. These are, in particular, licensing personnel, specialists of the operating unit and other "artificial" specialists who are holding on and doing everything in their power to maintain the safety situation at Zaporizhzhia NPP," he said.
Zaporizhzhia NPP and the surrounding area have been mined since the first weeks of the occupation, and shells periodically explode. Russian troops are regularly rotating in the city. They move their equipment around Enerhodar, but they do not enter the city.
