General Staff: Russia starts forcibly evacuating residents from occupied Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Russia is forcibly evacuating residents of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, located around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant--Europe's largest-- to the Russian-occupied cities of Prymorsk and Berdiansk, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported[1] in its morning briefing. The General Staff said that Russia is primarily relocating Ukrainians who have taken Russian passports since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Earlier on April 30, Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets advised[2] Ukrainians who currently live in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine to "make a decision to survive" and take Russian passports or "leave in any way possible." Other officials responded to this statement, urging Ukrainians to resist taking the passports.
On May 6, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts present at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant said[3] they had received information that Russian occupying troops had announced a forced evacuation of Enerhodar residents, where most of the nuclear plant's employees live, fearing it could put the plant's nuclear safety at risk. A huge queue of cars and trucks, with some waiting for five hours, were seen obstructing the Chonhar checkpoint between Russian-occupied Melitopol and Crimea, exiled Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said[4] on May 6. According to him, Russian authorities "provoked a mad panic and no less mad queues when they announced the evacuation of some settlements in the Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast on May 1.[5]
Russian occupation authorities are preparing evacuation plans in the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine's National Resistance Center reported[6] on May 1.
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