The largest power plant in Europe, it is located in the region of Zaporizhia, one of the Ukrainian territories that Russia formally annexed last week. The plant is close to the line that separates the territories controlled by kyiv and those occupied by Moscow.
“The government must ensure that the nuclear facilities at the plant are accepted as federal property,” the Russian decree states.
The Ukrainian operator, Energoatomstated for his part that he considered Putin’s decree “null and void, absurd and inadequate”.
“The Zaporizhia plant will continue to operate in Ukraine, in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, in the Ukrainian energy system, in Energoatom,” the company added on Telegram.
After the administrative management of the plant was transferred to the Russians on Wednesday, the Ukrainian nuclear operator was outraged by “the creation of pseudo-companies with the names of Ukrainian companies”.
The Russian decision shows “the agony of the crazy imaginary world of the aggressor country”, criticized Energoatom.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing the compound for several months. The attacks raise fears of the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe similar to the one that occurred in Chernobyl in 1986.
With information from AFP.