Russian The forces are planning to evict more than 3,000 workers from the city, which serves the needs of the occupied nuclear plant. Zaporozhyeleading to a “catastrophic shortage” of personnel, the Ukrainian state company Energoatom said today.

Last week, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said the situation around the Russian-held nuclear power plant was “potentially dangerous” after Moscow-appointed officials began evacuating people from nearby areas.

Russian state news agency TASS reported on Monday that the Moscow-appointed governor of the Russian-controlled portion of the surrounding region had suspended operations at the plant.

Ukrainian Energoatom said it had received information about preparations for the evacuation of about 3,100 people from the southern city of Energodar, including 2,700 workers who signed contracts with a Russian-appointed administration.

“The Russian occupiers are demonstrating their inability to ensure the operation of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, since now there is a catastrophic shortage of qualified personnel,” the message says in the Telegram messenger.

“Even those Ukrainian workers who signed dirty contracts … will be removed soon. And this will exacerbate the already extremely urgent issue of having a sufficient number of personnel to ensure the safe operation of the nuclear power plant, even in the conditions of the current shutdown.”

Reuters was unable to independently correlate these reports. The Russian side did not immediately comment.

Ukraine is expected to launch a counter-offensive soon to try to push back Russian forces, with commentators claiming that one of its goals is to retake the entire Zaporozhye region.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}