For more than two decades Serhiy Porada worked the plains of Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine, expanding a farm that he hoped would sustain his family for generations. Now Russian soldiers have taken over his house, stolen his machinery, grain, fertiliser and fuel, and on Friday their president, Vladimir Putin, annexed Zaporizhzhia and three other Ukrainian provinces in the biggest European land grab since the second World War. “I worked for more than 20 years and then they came and took everything, just like that,” he says in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, which sits on the Dnieper river about 130km from his home village of Fedorivka, which he and his family fled in April. “I wanted my son to run the farm after me, like in normal countries. I saw on television how in America and other places there are fifth-generation farmers, and I wanted it to be like that here. That inspired me,” says Porada (51), who also has two daughters. Porada invested hundreds of thousands of euro in vehicles and equipment for his farm, and in a normal year would expect to harvest about 2,000 tonnes of wheat and a similar amount of sunflower seeds. Now all the machinery has been stolen, along with hundreds of tonnes of last year’s harvest that were in storage, and even fridges and furniture, as different units of Russian troops arrived in the area and looted whatever they found. “I lived for about a month under occupation and saw all that abuse, how they stole everything. Now nearly all farmers like me have left. There are a few who are still there, who the Russians allow to work, but if they don’t like something then they just come and take over,” says Porada. “Now Russian soldiers are living in people’s houses, warehouses, workshops, taking over the property of those who have left – they’re everywhere.” Porada says people in his home district have been beaten for complaining about or resisting the Russians, and alleges that one of his acquaintances was taken to the nearby town of Tokmak and tortured with electric shocks until he agreed on camera to collaborate with the occupiers. “They told him that if he causes trouble then they’ll make sure the SBU [Ukrainian security service] receives the video,” he says, in an account that could not be verified but resembles many other reports from areas occupied by Russia since its February invasion. In a process orchestrated by the Kremlin this month its appointees in occupied Ukraine staged “referendums” on joining Russia, and then appealed to Putin to annex those areas; on Friday he is scheduled to oversee a signing ceremony that will see Moscow formally claim possession of about 15 per cent of Ukraine – territory bigger than the island of Ireland. An invasion that has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions has had the hardest impact on eastern and southeastern regions of Ukraine, such as Zaporizhzhia, which are home to most of the Russian speakers whom Putin claims to be protecting from a “neo-Nazi” regime in Kyiv led by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a Jew from the largely Russophone city of Kryvyi Rih. The war has also devastated farming in Ukraine, previously the world’s fourth biggest exporter of grains: Kyiv says Russia has stolen more than half a million tonnes of grain from occupied areas, and estimates that hundreds of millions of dollars of storage infrastructure and more than half a billion dollars of agricultural products have been destroyed in missile attacks. “We had about 110 hectares of wheat that we couldn’t harvest – about 20 hectares were set on fire by shelling and the rest we had to leave in the field. And I couldn’t sow sunflowers because of the occupation,” says Anatoliy Piskovets, a farmer from the Polohy district of Zaporizhzhia region. “I think it was March 2nd that they came into our village. We tried not to have any contact with them, we wanted nothing to do with them – relations were not good, to say the least.” Piskovets (60) says soldiers from several parts of Russia came to his village, including Buryats from Siberia and Chechens from the Caucasus, as well as fighters from areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk region that have been de facto controlled by Moscow since 2014 amid relatively low-intensity fighting with Kyiv’s forces. “They said we’ve suffered for eight years and now you’re going to suffer,” he recalls of the troops from Donetsk. “After a month or so it became impossible to stay. They started stealing vehicles and took a truck from us to carry ammunition or something, and they took wheat from last year’s harvest. There was shelling and we had no power or running water for two weeks.” On April 4th, Piskovets drove with his wife, a neighbour and her child through a gauntlet of Russian checkpoints to Zaporizhzhia. He says the journey took eight hours instead of the usual two, and Russian soldiers searched them and the car and took “whatever they wanted”. But they were lucky: many others have been repeatedly turned back at the checkpoints, and on Friday Ukraine said at least 23 people were killed and 28 injured when Russian shells hit cars waiting on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia city to enter occupied territory, as a significant number of people do to deliver supplies and visit family and friends. Russia does not control the entirety of any of the regions it plans to annex, and in all of them the Ukrainian military is now holding its ground or moving forward, having retaken territory the size of Cyprus this month in a rapid liberation of the Kharkiv region. Yet Russia insists it is occupying the regions forever and will use all the weapons at its disposal – potentially including nuclear missiles – to stop Ukraine taking them back. “Our neighbours tell us that five ‘orcs’ have moved into our house. We left everything there, so you can imagine what will become of it,” Piskovets says, using a term for Russian soldiers that is commonly used in Ukraine. “If there’s a battle to deoccupy the area who knows what will be left afterwards. But if anything survives, we’ll go back.” Porada says he is at his wits’ end in Zaporizhzhia, where there is little work, a large number of displaced people and daily Russian shelling. He is helping support his former farm workers who have also fled occupation, “just so they have something in their pocket”, but he knows “the money won’t last forever”. His obvious fury over Russia’s occupation is compounded by an injustice is his family history, when his great-grandfather was exiled to Soviet Kazakhstan by the communist authorities for being a “kulak” – a prosperous peasant farmer. “And now I’ve been driven off my land too. And it’s hard to do something else when you’ve worked on your own land. I was born on a collective farm. My place is in my village and I’m at a loose end in the city – I was helping out on a combine harvester when I was 13 years old,” Porada says. “They can’t be allowed to do this. The world must stop Russia before it destroys everything. And even if there’s nothing left of my farm after all this, I will go back, even if I have to walk all the way home.” Facebook pageTwitter feed© 2025 The Irish Times DAC Журналістика даних We traced what happened at the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant) and in Enerhodar since the capture of the city Читати українською Intimidation of the power plant’s personnel and safety threats Joint project. Zaporizhzhia Center of Investigation: data collection, text.Texty.org.ua: visualization storytelling and data collection consultations Enerhodar is connected to Zaporizhzhia by a single asphalted road along the Kakhovka Reservoir to Vasylivka where it connects with the Kharkiv-Simferopol highway Another group of Russian troops was moving from the Kherson direction Workers of the military commissariats and the police left Enerhodar on February 25 – luckily who guarded the ZNPP and patrolled the city Weapon supplies for the local Teroborona (Territorial Defense) were supposed to arrive from Zaporizhzhia by the same single road from Vasylivka Part of the Teroborona soldiers went to meet the transport with weapons received them and gave the occupiers a fight already in Vasylivka the Russians captured the village of Velyka Bilozerka Local residents decided to defend Enerhodar even without weapons: they erected a roadblock at the entrance to the city according to the mayor of Enerhodar Dmytro Orlov have been going to the checkpoint to stop the Russian army with peaceful protests These were almost all adults who stayed in the city and did not go to work (most of them were either directly employed at the nuclear power plant or the thermal power plant Enerhodar residents went to the road leading to the city to stop the Russian troops the Russians finally opened fire on protesters and entered the city shelling civilian buildings in the center of Enerhodar along the way Zaporizhzhia NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine that has a capacity of 6 gigawatts making up 45% of the Ukrainian nuclear energy capacity and over 20% of Ukraine’s energy system capacity Enerhodar – a city where staff operating ZNPP live – was built between 1970 and 1980 along with thermal and nuclear power plants including around 11,000 staff working at both the ZNPP and the infrastructure facilities serving the station according to Energoatom (Ukraine’s state nuclear agency) The map showing the capture of Enerhodar and the ZNPP the whole world watched the online broadcast from a surveillance camera located on one of the buildings of the ZNPP No one understood what was happening and whether a new Chernobyl would happen "We’ve been told that these sirens simply burned out by six o'clock in the morning," says Olha This eerie sound and fear were even scarier because of uncertainty Enerhodar residents watched the flames over the station knew that firefighters were not allowed there and were concerned about radiation and exposure There were no bomb shelters or other protective structures in the city In case of an accident at the station in peacetime only a National Guard unit was guarding the ZNPP and patrolling the city one ‘Cossack’ armored car," recalls Ivan Petukhov head of the electric network department of the ZNPP "The Russians simply razed to dust the educational and training center from where the National Guardsmen were shooting Then they hit the main building with large-caliber shells.. They were just showing their strength," Petukhov continued The ZNPP training center after the night battle for the nuclear plant According to the testimony of one of the local activists three soldiers of the National Guard from its security detachment were killed and another five or six were wounded 30-40 people were captured by the Special Rapid Response Unit from Ingushetia — they were the ones who attacked the station Locals say that the prisoners were taken to a field nearby and stripped down to their underwear; the capturers shot over their heads made the prisoners sign a pledge not to fight again and released them to Enerhodar Some of the captives managed to get to Ukraine-controlled areas while others were recaptured and taken to Crimea later on – already from Enerhodar The occupiers also captured the National Guard’s regular soldiers who were patrolling the city They were returned during the November 22 exchange third and fourth floors of the training center near the ZNPP burned down Firefighters were allowed to put out the fire only a few hours later This battle marked the inception of nuclear blackmail carried out by Russia The territory of the ZNPP was turned into a garrison where about 500 Russian soldiers along with heavy equipment and ammunition are being stationed the Russians are shelling free Ukrainian territories 3,000 station workers and about 20,000 residents of Enerhodar which the Russians are shelling for provocations the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on one of the Russian attacks under a foreign flag which Russia blamed on the Armed Forces of Ukraine Russians terrorize the station's Ukrainian staff: they force them to sign contracts with Rosatom (the Russian Nuclear Power Agency) The greatest danger today is the regular disconnection of the ZNPP from the Ukrainian power grid after Russian shelling of power lines Diesel generators then become the last safeguards against a nuclear disaster Join a mailing list to keep track of disinfo thousands of Enerhodar residents regularly took to the streets of the already occupied city for rallies under Ukrainian flags the birthday of Taras Shevchenko (a renowned Ukrainian poet) in support of Ukraine and as a sign of protest against the kidnapping of the city's deputy mayor Rosgvardiya (the Russian Federal Guard) soldiers began to grab and drag the protesters to their cars and fire mortars at the gathering After the establishment of the occupying authorities the Russian special services assisted by local collaborators searched for and abducted the participants of the demonstrations Power unit # 1 was undergoing preventive maintenance Power units # 2 and # 3 were disconnected from the network and switched to a safe mode Power units # 5 and # 6 were also transferred to a safe mode It is the power units # 5 and # 6 that were regularly disconnected from the power grid due to Russian shelling of power lines and only automatic activation of diesel generators prevented them from causing a nuclear disaster the power plant was completely shut down three times: on August 25 all six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia NPP were shut down but they still consume electricity from the Ukrainian power system The Russians are blocking their connection At midnight, a live broadcas of the Russian army capturing the station began from a surveillance camera located in the administration building on the territory of the ZNPP The camera worked for several hours until the Russians got hold of the station A Russian projectile hit power unit # 1 and damaged the reactor cladding Two shells hit near a spent nuclear fuel storage facility One of the station’s engineers mentioned in an anonymous BBC interview about the overpasses under which the Russians stored military equipment under the overpass nea Special Building # 2 they place Grad mobile artillery units with ammunition on occasions," he said He also stated that he saw Russian artillery installations at the site generally used for storage of heavy metal structures such as steam generators prepared for replacement of the old ones aimed at destroying the energy infrastructure connecting the plant to the Ukrainian power grid a 330 kV high-voltage communication line of the ZNPP autotransformer hit the high-voltage communication line Zaporizhzhia thermal power plant (TPP) reported Energoatom reported the impact of Russian munitions on the ZNPP site near the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel(SFU) the leakage of which could cause an environmental disaster The repository stores 174 containers of 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel which are supposed to notify about radiation leakage Bombardment of the ZNPP: Energoatom reports five "arrivals" in the area of the station's command post — not far from the welding area and the storage of radiation sources The pumping station of household sewage was damaged the ZNPP was completely shut down for the first time As a result of damage to the PL-750 kV "Dniprovska" overhead line a projectile penetrated the roof of Special Building # 1 and there were hits near Special Building # 2 and the overpass a representative of the Russians explained to IAEA director Rafael Grossi that the projectile at the moment of landing allegedly turns 180 degrees around its axis which is why it sticks out of the ground as if it came from the territory occupied by the Russians the Russians abducted the general director of the ZANP and took him to the "Yama" torture chamber (according to The Wall Street Journal) He was released from captivity on October 3 thanks to widespread publicity and the intervention of the Director General of the IAEA which performed a sanitary function and ensured the cleanliness of the cooling tubes of the turbine condenser Warm water does not enter the cooling pond due to the shutdown of the ZNPP the ZNPP was de-energized due to shelling of high-voltage communication lines with the Ukrainian power system Power units # 5 and # 6 have been transferred to a cold state Energoatom announced that the Russians had placed several Grad rocket launchers at the power unit # 6 near the site of the station's dry spent nuclear fuel storage facility where some "defensive structures" had previously been secretly built "Testing and commissioning of mobile diesel boilers is ongoing at the station to prevent freezing of critical systems of the ZNPP in the winter," the IAEA report for December 13 states Mobile diesel boilers with a capacity of 1-3 MW are installed and working at one of the power units several more are located in other places on the site the Russian army began shelling populated areas on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from the station using the territory of the ZNPP as a shield Experts of the Conflict Intelligence Team confirmed that the missile attack was carried out from the area near the ZNPP The range of Russian weapons located near the Dnipro When the Russian army seized the nuclear power plant it violated international agreements not to use nuclear facilities for military purposes Now Russia accuses Ukraine of shelling the ZNPP categorically refuses to demilitarize the station and create a security zone around the ZNPP The Russian representative convinces the director general of the IAEA that the fragment of the projectile which is sticking out on the territory of the ZNPP near the storage of spent nuclear fuel but when it landed it turned 180 degrees and that is why it looks as if it came from the territory occupied by the Russian army.Screenshot from the video released by Andrii Tsaplienko Satellite images indicate the growth of combat positions around the ZNPP during the summer-autumn of 2022 who stayed to work there or left after it was captured by the Russians anonymously talk about the placement of Russian firing positions soldiers and ammunition on the territory of the ZNPP TEXTY's source claims that the Russians who have occupied almost all premises on the territory of the station are constantly moving and disguising their equipment Regular shelling of the ZNPP began on August 5 They were aimed at destroying the high-voltage lines that connected the ZNPP with the Ukrainian system but also to create an "image" for Russian propaganda about the alleged Ukrainian shelling Station employees say that the Russians previously found out in detail how the station works and what is located where This is so they can hit without shelling causing any real damage to the station – except for the destruction of the power grids mentioned above One may wonder why not simply dismantle these networks since they go through the Russia-occupied territory the nature of which observers from distant capitals might struggle to grasp Any danger resulting from shelling becomes a good excuse to assign the blame on Ukraine only one of the three such lines survived the shelling – "Dniprovska" They are provoking a "blackout" at the station in order to "save" the NPP from a large-scale accident by connecting it to the Russian power system the third power unit was shut down three times and restarted three times – without inspections without any attempt to find out the reasons for the shutdowns and conclusions as required by the regulations," says Olha Kosharna a former Board member of the State Inspection of Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine Emergency shutdowns after shelling of power lines continued throughout the fall Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin spoke about the plans to "integrate" not only the ZNPP but also the Kakhovka HPP and all solar and wind generation in the occupied territories during a visit to then-occupied Kherson He also mentioned the restoration of the only main high-voltage line that was blown up in 2015 running through Dzhankoy and through the ZNPP which could supply electricity to the occupied Crimea The ZNPP is connected to the Ukrainian power grid through four 750 kV high-voltage transmission lines two high-voltage lines were in use: "ZNPP – Dnipro" line which goes through the Kakhovka reservoir in the direction of Nikopol which leads to the "Kakhovska" substation This line is a long-term construction and was only completed at the end of 2020 to receive more power from the NPP the ZNPP could not operate at full capacity because there were not enough 750 kV transmission lines to receive the entire amount of electricity from six power units operating at the ZNPP simultaneously Electricity is necessary to maintain a nuclear power plant in a safe condition because heat resulting from a nuclear reaction should be constantly removed even from switched-off power units which can technically cause a hydrogen explosion of the same nature as the notorious Fukushima accident shelling of power lines can cause a nuclear disaster The nuclear power plant has diesel generators that automatically turn on when the power supply stops but this is the last line of defense against disaster Ukraine conducted stress tests of all nuclear power plants and took into account its lessons based on the EU methodology," comments Olha Kosharna “They predicted the possibility of flooding and earthquakes affecting the ZNPP additional filters were installed to trap radionuclides and chemical hydrogen recombinators were added under the hermetic shell in case the concentration of hydrogen increases the level of safety is calculated in case of a light plane crash The shelling is not described in security reports as a potentially threatening event What areas will be contaminated if an accident occurs at the nuclear power plant the nuclear contaminants will "fly" to the south of Ukraine the winds blow mainly from the west – therefore the contamination would have reached the Donetsk region and the Krasnodar region in Russia the contamination would affect the free Ukraine the IAEA admitted that as a result of the Russian seizure and control of the nuclear power plant all key principles of nuclear safety were violated the IAEA mission led by Director General Rafael Grossi was everywhere accompanied by occupiers who spread disinformation about the shelling of the plant They also organized "letters from concerned citizens" who complained to the inspectors about the shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine Two IAEA employees remain at the station after Rafael Grossi's departure the head of the IAEA is making diplomatic efforts to create a demilitarized zone at the ZNPP and around the station "The Russians are interested in a safe and working nuclear plant," Olha Kosharna (the correct name is Olha not Olena) explains the logic of the occupiers' actions "in order to supply electricity to Crimea where there is currently a power shortage." the Crimean thermal power plants with "scandalous" Siemens turbines worked on gas coming from the fields where the "Boyko towers" were located – and the Armed Forces destroyed them back in June 2022 The occupiers would like to transfer the rest of the plant's power to the power system of the Russian Federation to supply the Krasnodar region ZNPP is also valuable for Russians because it uses Westinghouse fuel (from the US) Station workers are wary that the Russians may have taken fresh as well as used Westinghouse fuel assemblies to Russia to disassemble and carry on studies of the design features On the site near the ZNPP there is a dry storage facility for spent fuel which the United States has supplied since 2014 These are modern technologies that the Russians do not have and that may be of interest to them This is another reason why the occupiers terrorize the station's Ukrainian staff and use threats and torture to force them to work for Rosatom — they cannot be replaced by Russians The material was prepared with the assistance of the Media Development Fund of the US Embassy The grantor is not responsible for the opinions and information presented in the article Отримуйте найкращі статті на e-mail (раз на два тижні) Подивитись свіжий випуск How Russia appropriates Ukrainian real estate in the occupied territories щоб отримувати найкращі статті на e-mail (раз на два тижні) Факт №1 про Тексти: ми намагаємося розбиратися у суті речей звертати увагу на головне і пояснювати читачам Сьогодні ми розповідаємо про злочини російської армії в Україні вміємо працювати з даними і приділяємо багато уваги дизайну Матеріали ТЕКСТИ.org.ua можна використовувати згідно ліцензії Creative Commons із зазначенням авторства, CC BY (переклад ліцензії українською) Велике прохання ставити гіперпосилання в першому чи другому абзаці вашого матеріалу Date That's according to the general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the enemy launched five missile and 29 air strikes of which 26 targeted civilian infrastructure The invaders employed 10 Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles There is a threat of continued air and missile strikes across the entire territory of Ukraine,' the statement reads The enemy continues to run offensive operations in the Lyman and Bakhmut areas also trying to improve their tactical position in the Kupiansk and Avdiivka areas Ukrainian defenders repelled attacks near Stelmakhivka No signs of enemy offensive groups being formed were spotted In the Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna directions Buda-Vorobiivska of Chernihiv region were hit by artillery and mortars Kotlyarivka and Tabaivka in Kharkiv region and Novoselivske and Stelmakhivka in Luhansk region came under enemy fire barrel and jet artillery in the areas of the settlements of Spirne and Novomykhailivka were affected by shelling in the Avdiivka direction enemy fire was recorded in the areas of Temyrivka and Nikopol and Prymiske in Dnipropetrovsk region the enemy continues mortar and artillery shelling of populated areas along the right bank of the Dnipro River the civilian infrastructure of Kachkarivka military draft offices in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea have drawn up lists of potential conscripts for January 2023 around 200 invaders were eliminated in the area of Fedorivka in Kakhovka district of Kherson region in the vicinity of Polohy and Velyka Bilozerka of Zaporizhia region and five units of military equipment of various types Ukraine's Air Force carried out 10 strikes on enemy clusters and three positions of anti-aircraft missile systems An Orlan-10-type reconnaissance UAV was shot down Missile and artillery units hit a command and control post the Russian death toll in Ukraine now stands at about 105,250 MENAFN31122022000193011044ID1105370196 World and Middle East business and financial news