News Russia reducing its presence at nuclear plant, says Ukraine

[Tarquinius]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-up-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-claims-ukraine

Staff at Zaporizhzhia told to relocate, says Ukrainian intelligence, as Moscow accused of explosion plot

Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (GUR) has claimed, with staff told to relocate to Crimea and military patrols scaled back. The agency’s chief, Kyrylo Budanov, has alleged Moscow has approved a plan to blow up the station and has mined four out of six power units, as well as a cooling pond. Last week Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Russia was plotting a “terrorist attack”.

According to the GUR, several representatives of Russia’s state nuclear energy agency, Rosatom, have already left. Ukrainian employees who stayed at the plant and signed contracts with Rosatom had been told to evacuate by Monday, preferably to Crimea, it said. The intelligence agency named three senior individuals – the plant’s chief inspector, the head of the legal department and the deputy in charge of supplies – who had already departed. It said the number of Russian soldiers at the station and in the nearby town of Enerhodar had been reduced.