Head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company on Zaporizhzhia plant: 'Russians are packing their bags’

Petro Kotin, president of Ukrainian state nuclear power company Energoatom, said he sees signs that Russian troops are planning to leave the area around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

“First of all, there’s a lot coming out in the Russian press about how maybe it would be worth it to give up the ZNPP, maybe it would be worth it to let it come under IAEA’s control. You know, it gives the impression that they’re packing their bags and that they’re going to steal everything they can find,” Kotin said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Kotin emphasized that “it’s still too early to say Russian troops are leaving the ZNPP,” but that they are “preparing.”

In times of war it is impossible to immediately verify information disseminated even by official representatives of parties to the conflict.

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Russian troops captured the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in March, 2022, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. Since then, Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly blamed each other for shelling the plant. The area around the ZNPP was last shelled on November 19-20. The plant has been disconnected from Ukraine’s national energy system several times throughout the war. In November, the IAEA adopted a resolution calling on Russia to withdraw its troops and other personnel from the ZNPP.