Russia kidnaps the head of the Saporischschja Ukrainian nuclear power plant

The head of the occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Saporischschja was kidnapped by Russian armed forces, the state company responsible for the power plant announced on Saturday.

ihor Murashov was taken to the city of Enerhodar on Friday afternoon on the way of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, said the head of Energy Petro Kotin in a statement.

"He was brought out of the car and driven in an unknown direction," wrote Mr. Kotin in the Telegram messaging app and added that there was no immediate word about Mr. Murashov's fate.

The facility in Saporischschja was a focus of the seven -month Russian invasion in Ukraine, since Moscow and Kiev accuse each other to fire the facility and thus risk a nuclear disaster. The IAEO said that it asks for "clarifications".

The Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj has called for the creation of a demilitarized zone to be used by the work that is occupied by Ukrainians

Mr. Murashov "bears the main and exclusive responsibility for the nuclear and radiation security" of the power plant, and his detention "endangers the operational safety of Ukraine and the largest nuclear power plant in Europe," said Kotin.

He asked the Russian armed forces to "stop the acts of nuclear terrorism against management and staff" of the system immediately and to leave Mr. Murashov free.

Russia has not publicly commented on the topic.

Russia has claimed the system as a war prey and announced plans to separate it from the Ukrainian network and to force its employees to apply again to the state Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom.

"Work on the integration of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and energy in the Russian legal area have already started," said the pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar.

The management of the work "must be absolutely loyal to Russia," said the broadcaster when he announced the news of Murashov's arrest.

Mr. Kotin said that he appealed to the head of the international atomic atomic energy authority (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, "to take all possible immediate measures in order to free Murashov".

from Reuters asked for a comment, said a spokesman for the IAEA: "We contacted the Russian authorities and ask for clarifications."

The facility is on territory The Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that after the apparent referenders, it would become part of the Russian territory.

The six reactors of the system are currently switched off, but once produced about a fifth of the Ukrainian current. The replacement of the system would cost over £ 35 billion.