KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine on Wednesday called for the residents of Russian-occupied areas around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to evacuate for their own safety.
Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of shelling the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, risking a nuclear disaster.
“I appeal to the residents of the districts adjacent to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant …. evacuate! Find a way to get to (Ukrainian) controlled territory,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a post on the Telegram messaging service.
The exiled Ukrainian mayor of Enerhodar, the main town serving the plant, said in a separate Telegram post that it was under fire from Russian forces and that it had no electrical supply.
“The intervals between provocations are becoming shorter and shorter,” Dmytro Orlov, the mayor, wrote.
He said that the plant’s employees did not have time to repair the installation “as another shelling nullifies their work and they have to start all over again.”
Orlov added that residents should stockpile drinking water and food that did not require cooking.
It is now impossible to predict the timing of the restoration of electricity supply.
Russia denies targeting civilians and accuses Kyiv of shelling the nuclear plant.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
