There are growing fears at the Chernobyl nuclear plant amid reports that staff are being ‘held hostage’ by Russian soldiers.
Yuri Formichev, mayor of the nearby town of Slavutych, warned of a ‘complete catastrophe’ as food and fuel supplies come close to running out, the Mirror reports.
Russian forces have been in control of the plant, just north of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, since the early days of invasion.
There are reports that staff are continuing to work around the clock at gunpoint to maintain plant operations - which is said to be tiring workers physically and psychologically.
Mr Formichev claimed that his town faces a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ as the mental wellbeing of staff continues to deteriorate.
This could potentially increase the risk of a ‘new accident’ occurring at the plant, the politician said.
The Daily Mail reports that an officials in charge of a 19-mille exclusion zone echoed that staff were ‘on the edge of their human capabilities due to physical and emotional exhaustion’.
At the disabled Chernobyl nuclear reactor, power had been restored after damage forced the plant to rely on electricity from diesel generators, Ukraine 24 reported on Tuesday.
On Monday, state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo said the Chernobyl plant was relying on electricity from diesel generators after its external power supply had again been damaged.
The nearby town of Slavutych was completely without power for the same reason, Ukrenergo chief Volodymyr Kudrytskiy said on national television.
Russia's control of radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl is limiting the flow of information out of them such that Ukraine cannot fully answer all the International Atomic Energy Agency's questions, the Ukrainian nuclear regulator has told the IAEA.
"The regulator said for the first time today that information it received regarding Chornobyl was 'controlled by the Russian military forces' and therefore it could not 'always provide detailed answers to all' of the IAEA's questions," the IAEA said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that was also the case at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
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