“If we die, it will be in a second and we will not suffer,” says Marganets resident Anastasia. In this Ukrainian city, a few kilometers from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian troops, the population lives in constant fear.
In recent days, Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of bombing the nuclear power plant complex, Europe’s largest.
On Thursday, the attacks damaged some radioactivity level sensors.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned of the seriousness of the situation.
Marganets is only 13 km from Zaporizhzhia. Located on a hill, the city remains under Ukrainian control and from here you can see the Soviet-era nuclear power plant on the other side of the Dnieper River.
“If we die, it will be in a second and we won’t suffer. He reassures me that my son and my family won’t suffer,” says 30-year-old Anastasia at the shopping.
‘Terrible things’
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been on the front lines since it was captured by Russian troops in early March, days after the Kremlin ordered an invasion of Ukraine.
In Marganets, the Ukrainian army advises not to approach the bank of the Dnieper River, for fear that the enemy will fire from the opposite bank, about 6 kilometers away.
The city, which had a population of around 50,000 before the war, has a vibrant center where people live their daily lives beyond the dark thoughts and persistent rumors about the status of the power plant’s six reactors.
“I fear for my family and myself. I want to live in this city and enjoy life,” says 18-year-old Ksenia, who serves customers at a cafe on the main shopping street.
“The fear is constant. And the news says that the situation at the factory is very tense, so every second that passes is terrible. You are afraid to sleep because terrible things happen at night,” he adds.
17 people were killed in night attacks this week in Marganets and Nikopol, another town a short distance down the river, according to local officials.
Ukraine accuses Russia of firing from across the river and from inside the nuclear complex.
Ukrainian soldiers avoid responding for fear of triggering a disaster.
On Friday, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Russian troops even “fire on parts of the facility to give the impression that Ukraine is doing this”.
A situation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described as “nuclear blackmail”.
“I think the Russians are using the plant as an ace to achieve their own goals,” says 37-year-old Anton.
Ukraine was the scene of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, 530 kilometers northwest of Marganets.
That year, a nuclear reactor exploded and released radiation into the atmosphere. About 600,000 people charged with clearing the land around the facility were assigned as “liquidators”.
The official death toll is only 31, but some estimates speak of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of deaths.
In Marganets there is a monument to these “liquidators”.
Standing next to the crater opened by a rocket that crashed into Marganets at night, 54-year-old Sergei Volokitin looks back at those times.
“After graduating I worked at the mine and I had two people on my team who were liquidators,” he recalls.
“We knew everything that was going on there. We know the effects of radiation and what the consequences will be if something happens.”
source: Noticias
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