KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency has expressed growing concern about the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant after the governor of the Russian-occupied zone ordered the evacuation of a town where the majority live. of the workers at the plant, in the midst of attacks in the area.
The plant is near the front and Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday that a 72-year-old woman had been killed and three others wounded after Russian forces fired more than 30 shells on Nikopol, a nearby Ukrainian-controlled city.
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi said in a warning Saturday before the latest report from attacks.
“I am extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks to the plant,” he added.
Grossi’s remarks were in response to the announcement on Friday by Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed governor of the partially occupied province of Zaporizhia, that he had ordered the evacuation of civilians from 18 towns in the area, including Energodar, which is near the power station. nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.
The affected towns were 50 to 70 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) from the line of fighting between Ukraine and Russia, and Balitsky said Ukraine had intensified attacks in the area in recent days.
The region is also widely seen as a place where Ukraine could focus its long-awaited spring counteroffensive.
The Ukrainian General Staff said on Sunday that the evacuation of Energodar had already begun.
In a Facebook post, the General Staff said the first residents to be evacuated were those who had adopted Russian citizenship after Moscow captured the city early in the war.
They were moved to the Russian-occupied Azov Sea coast some 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the southeast.
Grossi said that as of Saturday, the staff who maintain the plant, which has its six reactors shut down, had not yet evacuated, but that the majority live in Energodar and the situation has contributed to “increasingly tense, stressful and challenging for workers and their families.
IAEA experts at the compound, he noted, “continue to hear shells on a regular basis.”
“We must act now to prevent the threat of a major nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment,” Grossi said. “This huge nuclear facility must be protected. I will continue to press for a commitment from all parties to achieve this vital goal.”
Meanwhile, Russian shelling on Saturday and overnight left six civilians dead and four wounded in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, according to a Telegram statement released Sunday by the local government.
Five civilians were injured in the eastern Donetsk region, the epicenter of fighting in recent months, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces overnight attacked the largest port in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula with drones, a local Kremlin-appointed official said on Telegram Sunday morning.
Ten Ukrainian drones attacked the city, three of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defenses, according to Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol. The attack produced no damage, he added.
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Joanna Kozlowska contributed to this report from London.