Global Courant 2023-05-11 15:38:17
The head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency, Petro Kotin, says Ukrainian forces understand they will have to bypass the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant when they launch the long-awaited counteroffensive.
Such measures, said the head of Energoatom, are taken to avoid damage to the facility.
“There is a responsibility that they must maintain the integrity even if it is occupied by the Russians,” he said during an interview in Kiev for CNN.
“This is fully understood by everyone, by our army,” Kotin said, explaining that Ukraine can retake the nuclear power plant without using force, simply by cutting off the supply lines to the facility.
“It is not necessary to use force. What you need is to simply cut off the connection between NPP Zaporizhzhia and Crimea. What is required to be done is simply to recapture Melitopol and then you this communication between the Russians in the NPP and the supply chain and the supply lines where they can actually get out,” he said, adding that: “They will be surrounded by Ukrainian forces and the only way out of Crimea will be captured by us. That means they will have only two options, either surrender or just get out of there.”
Kotin further said that Russian forces had evacuated people from the nearby town of Enerhodar over the past 10 days and that they may also evacuate some staff from the plant. He explained that “at least five” rotating shifts of personnel were needed to operate the plant.
Kotin described the situation as “critical”, but said the risk of a major disaster remains “quite low”.
“The Russians are crazy, but not crazy enough. They still have nuclear workers from Rosatom (the Russian nuclear agency), who are operators of nuclear power plants, and technically these people understand the risks,” he said, adding that: “There are many servicemen (soldiers), thousands, who do not understand the risks.”
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