In recent weeks, the Russian military has been strengthening its defensive positions around the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant amid an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive in the region.
Source. This was reported by Reuters with reference to two Ukrainians working at the plant and two residents of Enerhodar, near which the plant is located.
According to them, the Russian military dug new trenches around Enerhodar and laid more mines, and the surveillance cameras at the plant were directed northward, toward the territories controlled by Ukraine.
For several months now, the Russian military has been setting up firing positions at some of the ZNPP buildings and installing drone defense networks, according to the agency's interlocutors.
At the same time, the head of Ukraine's Energoatom, Petro Kotin, told Reuters that he does not believe that the Ukrainian military will attack ZNPP directly. Instead, he believes they will try to force the Russian military to retreat by cutting off their supplies.
According to Kotin, the biggest threat to ZNPP is that the fighting could disable the last remaining power line, which is needed to cool the plant's reactors. If this happens, the plant will only have backup diesel generators.
Kotin himself does not have access to ZNPP, but he still has contacts there. According to him, the number of Russian military personnel has tripled in recent months, from 500 to 1,500, and withdrawal exercises have already been held at the plant.
"I think they are preparing for evacuation, so they are bringing everything to one place to be ready to take everything and leave if necessary," he said.
The agency's interlocutors in Enerhodar also said they had seen Russian forces removing X-ray and other equipment from the local hospital over the past month, as well as equipment from closed Ukrainian banks in the city.
Background. Earlier, it was reported that the occupiers at ZNPP forbade the staff to communicate with each other and move around without the permission of local police.