Russia arrests two Zaporizhzhia nuclear workers ‘for handing information to Ukraine’

Two employees of Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have been arrested for passing information to Ukrainian authorities, Russia has said.

The National Guard said it had prevented what it called “illegal actions” that threatened the plant’s security and arrested the two staff members, who it said had transmitted information to Ukrainian armed forces about the location of personnel and equipment on the site.

It said it also detained a third person who had violated the plant’s access procedures.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, was captured by Russian troops in March. It remains close to the frontline and has come under repeated fire in recent weeks, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.

Ukrainian staff continue to operate the reactors.

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A Ukrainian technician at the site last week said that staff were working under huge pressure, with heavily armed Russian troops patrolling all parts of the site, but were staying on to ensure there was no Chornobyl-style nuclear disaster.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the plant. Ukraine denies shelling the site and says Russia is using it as a shield to enable it to launch attacks on the surrounding territory.

The UN has called for the area to be demilitarised and its nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is seeking to gain access.

Meanwhile, the Russian-installed head of Mykhailivka, a town in the Zaporizhzhia region with a population of 11,000, was killed in a car bomb attack on Tuesday, an official in the region’s Russian-backed administration said.

Writing on Telegram, Zaporizhzhia region administration member Vladimir Rogov said that Ivan Sushko had been critically injured when a bomb placed under his car exploded and died shortly afterwards in hospital.

It is the latest in a series of assassinations of Russian-installed officials in occupied areas of Ukraine. In the neighbouring Kherson region, the deputy head of the town of Novaya Kakhovka was shot dead in his home on 6 August.