By Ludmila Denisova, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights
Zaporizhzhya NPP and the city of Energodar were captured by the occupiers and have been controlled by the russian military for 26 days.
Formally, the occupiers do not interfere in the work of the station, but the staff is forced to coordinate all technical decisions with their commander. All employees of the station at the entrance to it are carefully checked by armed invaders.
Under pressure from the occupiers, people are unable to work calmly and take care of the safety of nuclear power plants, and the nuclear and radiation situation is under threat.
In the satellite town of Energodar, racist troops are terrorizing the local population. For almost two weeks now, there has been no information about the abducted by the occupiers, First Deputy Mayor Ivan Samoidyuk, who did not agree to cooperate with the occupiers.
Russian militants disperse peaceful assemblies and illegally detain citizens.
Today in Energodar, city residents gathered again for a rally in support of Ukraine, singing the anthem. The occupiers used light and noise grenades and opened mortar fire on the residents, four people were injured and severely burned. Some of the invaders were forcibly put in paddy wagons and taken away in an unknown direction.
Such treatment of civilians is a crime against humanity and a war crime as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The actions of the racist occupiers at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, which threaten the nuclear security of Ukraine and all surrounding countries, are a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
I appeal to the UN Commission for Investigation Human Rights Violations during Russia's Military Invasion of Ukraine and the expert mission set up by OSCE participating States under the Moscow Mechanism to take into account these facts of war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine.