Report

Facing the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant in Russian hands, Nikopol remains Ukrainian

Audio 01:21

The Russian-controlled Enerhodar (Zaporijjia) nuclear power plant is seen on April 27, 2022 from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Nikopol.

AFP - ED JONES

Text by: RFI Follow

5 mins

Fighting continues in Donbass and in southern Ukraine, on the border between the regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv.

Between these two conflict zones, Nikopol is spared for the time being.

But this city, which faces the nuclear power plant of Zaporijjia, the largest in Europe, taken by the Russians, is separated from the territory occupied by the troops of Moscow only by the Dnieper river.

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With our special correspondents in Nikopol,

A fence topped with barbed wire, stacked sandbags: the Nikopol district administration building has been placed under high security.

You almost only see armed men there.

Long graying beard, close-cropped hair, in fatigues, Evguen Yevtuchenko, military prefect of Nikopol, receives in his office in front of a shelf where icons and his submachine gun are enthroned.

Only seven kilometers from this building, there are Russian tanks, missile launchers and troops.

We had information that on the other side of the river, they pointed their artillery in the direction of Nikopol.

The situation here is relatively calm, we got used to it.

But all this is done against a backdrop of military threat hanging over the city.

Evguen Yevtuchenko, military prefect of Nikopo.

© Boris Vichith/RFI

In the hall of a school in Nikopol, volunteers from an army aid center wait for the end of the air alert.

The official Dmytro Osyka takes the opportunity to show a map of military operations in the region.

See here, it's Nikopol, and there, it's the enemy armies.

Here they are four kilometers across the river, and further west they are 30-40 kilometers away.

And there, it is our army that contains them.

Our goal is to provide them with as much as possible of what they need, so that they can fight.

We have confidence in our army.

►Read also: In Zaporijjia, an aid center for displaced people from Mariupol

For the time being, Nikopol therefore remains under Ukrainian control, separated from the territory occupied by the Russians by the Dnieper.

There too, on the west bank of the river, armed soldiers have replaced walkers and fishermen along the dyke.

" 

 ", explains one of the sentries, binoculars around his neck.

Audio: In Nikopol, living with the nuclear power plant under Russian control just opposite

Anastasia Becchio Boris Vichith

Clearly visible opposite on the other bank: the six reactors of the Enerhodar nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, also under Russian control.

Tetiana Ivanovna lives very close to the dyke.

I'm scared, because there is this nuclear power plant just opposite and between the reactors, there are Grad missile launchers, tanks.

The warning siren sounds.

This does not disturb more than that the sexagenarian, who continues his remarks, before leaving to take his bus.

We were warned not to climb on the dike, because it is an area where there can be shooting.

We don't know at all what could be going through their minds.

We don't expect anything good from the Russians.

We just hope one thing is that they are driven out of there.

We want peace and live again as before in our country.

Despite the sirens, life goes on in Nikopol.

© Boris Vichith/RFI

Oleksyi walks with her ten-year-old daughter.

He is not very reassured.

When the Russians took over the Enerhodar plant, many people left the city, because they were afraid of what might happen.

But unfortunately, we have nowhere to go.

Some get used to all that, I can't.

I'm always worried, I'm always scared.

According to the authorities, a third of the approximately 100,000 Nikopolitans have now left the city.

►Read again: Displaced people from Kherson flee "the occupation" and reach pro-kyiv cities

Residents also fear provocations from the Russian army as May 9 approaches, the day when Moscow celebrates the victory of the USSR in World War II.

Russia has succeeded so well in transforming reality, with all its propagandists, that what we were proud of, that is to say the victory over fascism, they completely annihilated to turn us into a symbol of fascism.

Russia is acting irrationally.

What actions can they take for May 9?

It can range from a nuclear strike to the declaration of war and the announcement of a general mobilization.

This partner has become unpredictable.

We don't know what we can expect from him.

But we are preparing to fight against possible unrest in our region.

How were the events in 2014, when Luhansk and Donetsk were taken?

There were protests with people saying they weren't being heard or

they were oppressed, and it ended in war.

This is why if such gatherings were to be organized here, we would do everything to nip them in the bud.

We will not let anyone destabilize the situation.

Evguen Evtouchenko, military prefect of Nikopol

Anastasia Becchio

Russia will remain " 

 " in southern Ukraine, said a senior Russian parliamentary official, Andrei Tourchak, during a visit 200 kilometers away, to Kherson, an important Ukrainian city which Moscow has claimed total control since. March.

© RFI

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