But eventually, the constant outbursts and fears for her young son’s life made her take the risk of leaving.
“It’s scary,” Elena told CNN. “Everything explodes there.” CNN agreed to use only Elena’s first name out of respect for her safety concerns. The Ukrainians have accused Russian troops of using the plant as a shield and risking serious damage or possible destruction to the plant. In response, the Kremlin has repeatedly claimed that Ukrainian forces are shelling the plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a speech to the UN Security Council on Wednesday that Russia had “brought the world to the brink of radiological destruction” by turning the plant into a “war zone” and called for the demilitarization of the plant. “At night (the Russians) shoot somewhere behind the tank,” Elena said. “There are many, many explosions at once, like big cars shooting up.” Fears about the consequences of the actions of Russian troops around the factory have accelerated the exodus of workers. “In the last two weeks, there has been a crazy outflow of personnel,” said Daria, an employee who still works at the nuclear plant. CNN agreed not to use her real name in light of her security concerns. “We have people leaving en masse, dozens of them, in droves.” Elena said workers at the factory are terrified of the Russian troops stationed there, as they walk around with machine guns and, at night, often “get drunk and shoot in the air”. “A man was killed there just before I left. That’s why we left,” Elena said. Three Ukrainian workers at the factory have been killed by the Russian military since March by beatings or shelling, and at least 26 others have been detained on charges of leaking information, Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said on Wednesday.

“Very dangerous” conditions

For those who remain at the plant, the situation is “getting worse every day,” Petro Kotin, president of Ukraine’s state-run nuclear power company Energoatom, told CNN. “It’s a very difficult situation,” Kotin said. “They are heroes in fact, who continue to work under these conditions in the factory.” Kotin said Russian forces had placed 20 trucks in two turbine rooms, as revealed in recent leaked video verified by CNN. “We believe there (are) explosives inside these trucks,” Kotin said. “And that’s very dangerous.” A possible fire could spread to the nearby reactor because the entrance to the fire department is blocked, he said. He believes the Russians will try to switch the Zaporizhzhia plant’s output from the Ukrainian power grid to the Russian grid, a process that would involve a “complete shutdown” of the plant using diesel generators to cool the reactors. Such an operation would be extremely dangerous, he said. On Thursday, the plant was completely disconnected from Ukraine’s electricity grid for the first time in its history, according to the country’s nuclear operator, Energoatom. It said nearby ash fires had caused the last remaining power line connected to Ukraine’s energy grid to be disconnected twice, adding that “invader actions” were to blame. The Russia-based governor later said work was underway to restore power to the area. He in turn blamed Ukrainian military action for the holiday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced late Thursday that all six reactors remained disconnected from Ukraine’s electricity grid.

“weak anger”

The increasing dangers of factory work have added to the psychological strain on the cadre of staff left behind. Factory worker Daria said only 10-15% of staff now remain in her department, which lives every day in a “state of impotent rage”. “Mentally it’s already very difficult,” Daria said. “But I don’t know when or how we will leave.” Daria said technical staff at the plant were “doing the impossible” to keep it running without incident, but added that people “have no idea how serious everything is, how everything is hanging in the balance”. “The human psychological state can lead to accidents,” Daria said. “In factories like ours, it’s not really about the equipment. What matters here is the people, their decisions, their reactions to signals, to any violations, to any damage.” The IAEA is currently in negotiations with Russia for an urgent inspection of the nuclear plant to assess the safety of the operation. But Daria said she believes “nothing will change” even if that happens. “My only hope is the Ukrainian army,” Daria said, but she fears what the Russians will do if they arrive. “They are so fond of saying ‘we will destroy you’ and they already have their orders for it. That’s why people leave.”