“We are very tired of this tension. “For almost a year and a half, we have been living expecting the worst,” explains 43-year-old Yevkuniya Tsouksina.
“The war has taught us that the Russians are capable of anything. Nevertheless, we hope that the international community will be vigilant, that it will put pressure (on Russia) in all possible ways and that the worst will not happen,” he said.
The worst could come from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which bears the name Zaporizhia but is actually about fifty km southwest of Energodar as the crow flies.
Russian troops have occupied it since March 4, 2022, and the site has already been fired upon several times and cut off from the power grid, raising fears of a major nuclear accident.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian military warned against “possible preparation for a provocation” by the Russians on the territory of the plant, this time “in the future”.
According to him, “materials resembling explosive devices were placed on the outer roof of reactors 3 and 4”.
For its part, the Kremlin warned of a possible Ukrainian “subversive act” at the plant with “catastrophic consequences.”
Strolling with his partner in a park near the Dnieper River that runs through the big city – 720,000 people before the war – Danilo, a 27-year-old young entrepreneur, says he is “constantly following the situation”.
“We have made some arrangements. We bought protective clothing, respirators, shoe covers, etc. We follow the information closely,” he explains.
Local authorities had already conducted a simulation exercise in late June to evacuate the 138,000 people living in a 50km radius around the nuclear power plant, a distant reminder of the 1986 Soviet-era Chernobyl nuclear disaster in northern Ukraine. .
Such an evacuation “is the worst-case scenario”, assures AFP Olena Jouk, head of the Zaporijjia regional council, according to whom it “depends on the type of accident: local, very local, not local”.
Food reserves
“I personally think the crash will be local,” says the official, who linked these new tensions to a counteroffensive led by the Ukrainian military.
The Russians “don’t need to do anything spectacular. Take a picture of a burning nuclear power plant […] “When our counterattack comes in a certain place, in a certain situation” to justify their withdrawal from the area, he promises.
Since early June, Ukrainian troops have been on the offensive on several fronts, particularly east of the nuclear power plant, to retake territory captured by Russian forces.
In Zaporizhia, Irina and her husband have already planned everything in case of a nuclear accident.
“There is water in the house. Food is available. We have had an emergency suitcase for a year and a half now”, recounted this 52-year-old real estate agent.
“We are warned and informed. If that happens, we close all the windows and doors and tape them up. We stay away from the windows and the street during this dangerous period,” he explains.
Members of the emergency services set up travel stations in the city to hand out leaflets about the dangers of mines, but also about what to do in the event of a nuclear accident.
According to an official of the regional council, residents have also started storing red wine.
An antioxidant naturally present in the drink “has been officially claimed” to protect against radiation, Ms Zouk assures. “It will be useful”.
Lyubov, 69, who fled the town of Energodar last September, does not believe in any Russian action against the nuclear plant.
“They scare us, that’s all […] They won’t do it. No, they won’t blow it up,” she said.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian military said “tensions are easing” around the plant, citing the “powerful work” of the Ukrainian military and diplomats and “our foreign partners putting pressure” on Russia.
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