Growing nuclear disaster worries are being expressed about the Russian-run facility in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Before Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive, officials deployed by Moscow have started removing residents from the adjacent town of Enerhodar, triggering warnings from the UN nuclear watchdog.
The largest nuclear reactor in Europe must operate safely, according to Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
He stressed that the general situation in the area near the site is now ‘increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous’.
‘I am extremely concerned about the real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant,’ Mr Grossi said in a statement on the IAEA website. ‘We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and associated consequences for the population and the environment.’
Mr Grossi said that while the operating staff remain at the site, the conditions for the personnel and their families are ‘increasingly tense, stressful, and challenging’.
The Russian-installed governor of the Moscow-controlled part of the Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that he had ordered the evacuation of villages close to the frontline.
This order has led to ‘a mad panic and no less mad queues’ at the checkpoint into Crimea, said Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol.
He wrote on Telegram: ‘Residents of Pologiv, Tokmak and Molochansk report that the occupiers are urgently organising the evacuation of the population to Berdyansk, calling it “aggravation of the fighting line”.
‘It is alarming that once again they want to forcibly evacuate, including children.’
It is thought the Ukrainian army will try to retake the Zaporizhzhia region, around 80% of which is held by Moscow, as part of its counter-offensive.
The IAEA has issued warnings previously about safety at the nuclear plant, which Russia captured in the opening days of its invasion last year.
Site director Yuri Chernichuk was reported by the watchdog as saying operating staff are not being evacuated and are doing all that is necessary to ensure nuclear safety.