The Russians Have Transformed Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant Into A Stronghold Of Terror
By: Giorgio Provinciali
Live from Ukraine
Zaporizhzhia –Across Ukraine’s southern front, artillery fire continues nonstop day and night, and the sky is filled with drones monitoring the enemy’s every move. Driving along the ridge that runs from areas south of Kryvyi Rih along the marshy bed of the Dnipro River – first to Nikopol’, then Marhanets’, and Zaporizhzhia – is like playing Russian roulette with a nearly loaded drum.
Moscow launches countless drones at local roads, puncturing several points through the fences that Ukrainians used to secure a logistics corridor that’s increasingly in need of maintenance. Repairing that corridor or the road surface exposes workers to enemy fire, protected only by metal cages that a tractor occasionally moves forward as their work continues.
Most of the service stations no longer exist, and the few remaining ones on secondary roads are protected by makeshift walls built with reinforced concrete blocks, very similar to those we filmed in Donbas for this newspaper’s website and YouTube channel.
Yet Ukraine resists.
Russian troops are stalling both in Orikhiv and near Stepnohirsk. Using tactics already seen in Yampil and more generally in Donetsk, the occupiers are trying to infiltrate Ukrainian villages by disguising themselves as civilians and using local residents as human shields after looting and taking over their homes.
On the opposite side of the Dnipro – now turned into a swamp, after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam – Moscow continues its strikes, holding position inside the Enerhodar nuclear power plant. Here, six of the seven pillars of nuclear security have been compromised, with the Russians already damaging their physical integrity, equipment, communication channels, logistics, power supply, and regular radiation monitoring. They have also used violent pressure on personnel.
According to the organization Truth Hounds, the Russians have illegally detained 226 civilians at the plant and surrounding areas, subjecting them to torture and inhumane treatment in at least seven makeshift detention centers.
Abductions are so frequent that no civilian dares move alone, not even on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the river, which is already mined and monitored by their drones. There is an even grayer area than the gray zone: a technological desert where only drones compete for space. We were able to observe it through binoculars, recognizing roads we once traveled even at night. Many places captured in our reports now appear like post-apocalyptic scenarios where even wild animals avoid entering, being recognized as “hostile” by the neural networks of the Russian drones’ thermal cameras. A young woman from Marhanets’ confided in us that she had lost contact with almost all her friends on the other side of the Dnipro: many of them reported sexual violence and intimidation by the occupation authorities, before disappearing into silence.
The latest blackout at the plant, caused by the Russians just yesterday, prompted President Zelensky to raise yet another alarm, berating those «weak international institutions that leave terrorists unpunished, using the protective shells of the Enerhodar reactors as shields.»
Despite the fact that during the last IAEA General Conference, 62 member states adopted a resolution calling on Russia to return the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Ukrainian control, Putin continues to use it as a bastion of terror. A citadel in which to shelter his worst men, just a few hundred meters as the crow flies from a civilized world incapable of responding.
As Zelensky warned at the 80th UN General Assembly, «Stopping Putin now is cheaper than defending every port and every ship from Russian terrorists and drones tomorrow.» From the most fragile heart of global nuclear security, the warning emerging is clear: without decisive action, the arms race initiated by the Kremlin could soon lead the entire planet toward catastrophe.
俄罗斯已将欧洲最大的核电站变成了恐怖据点
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
来自乌克兰的现场报道
Zaporizhzhia- 在乌克兰南部前线，炮火日夜不停，空中布满了监视敌人动向的无人机。沿着从克里维里赫南部地区，到聂伯罗河的沼泽河床的山脊行驶，首先到达尼科波尔，然后是马尔哈涅茨，和扎波罗热，就像玩一把装满子弹的俄罗斯轮盘赌。
（图：我在克里维里赫中心被俄罗斯人摧毁的众多酒店之一前报道—版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
莫斯科发射了无数的无人机轰炸当地公路，穿透了几处乌克兰人用来保护后勤通道的栅栏，这个通道本身急需维护。修复通道或路面的工人会暴露在敌人的火力下，只有金属笼子保护着他们，拖车时不时会向前移动。
（图：Alla在乌克兰尼科波尔被俄罗斯摧毁的加油站报道 – 版权所有Giorgio Provinciali）
大多数的加油站已不复存在，剩下的为数不多位于次级道路上的加油站都有用钢筋混凝土块建造的临时墙壁的保护，与我们为本报网站和 YouTube 频道在顿巴斯拍摄那些的非常相似。
然而，乌克兰仍在抵抗。
俄罗斯军队在奥里希夫和斯特夫诺希尔斯克附近停滞不前。俄军运用在扬皮尔，更多的是在顿涅茨克已经看到的策略，即试图透过伪装成平民，在抢劫和占据当地居民的家园后，利用当地居民作为人盾潜入乌克兰村庄。
在第聂伯罗的另一边，新卡科夫卡大坝被炸毁后，现在变成了一片沼泽。莫斯科占据了埃涅尔霍达尔核电厂内的位置，继续进攻。俄罗斯人已经摧毁了七大核安全柱中的六个，使它们的物理完整性、设备、通信渠道、物流、电力供应和常规辐射监测均受到了损坏。他们还对工作人员施加了强烈的暴力压力。
（图：艾拉在另一间遭俄罗斯联邦摧毁的Epitsenter购物中心现场报道，乌克兰尼科波尔 – 版权所有Giorgio Provinciali）
据Truth Hounds组织称，俄罗斯人在工厂和周边地区至少七个临时拘留中心非法拘留了226名平民，对他们施以酷刑和不人道的待遇。
绑架事件非常频繁，以至于没有平民敢独自行动，即使在乌克兰控制的河流一侧也是如此，那里已经布满了地雷并受到无人机的监视。那里甚至有一个比灰色地带更灰色的区域：一个只有无人机争夺空间的技术荒漠。我们甚至能欧在夜间透过双筒望远镜观察到它，辨认出我们曾经驶过的道路。我们报告中提到过的许多地方现在看起来像后世界末日景象，甚至野生动物也避之不及，这些地方被俄罗斯无人机热像仪的神经网络认定为“敌对”。一位来自马尔哈涅茨的年轻女子向我们吐露，她与第聂伯罗对岸的几乎所有朋友都失去了联络：他们中的许多人报告了占领当局的性暴力和恐吓，然后在沉默中消失了。
就在昨天，俄罗斯人造成的最近一次工厂停电，促使泽连斯基总统再次发出警报，斥责那些“未能惩罚恐怖分子、利用埃涅尔霍达尔反应炉的保护壳作为盾牌的软弱国际机构”。
尽管在上届国际原子能机构大会上，62个成员国通过了一项决议，呼吁俄罗斯将扎波罗热核电站归还给乌克兰控制，但普京继续将其用作恐怖主义的堡垒。这一座城堡，用来庇护他最坏的人，距离一个无法回应的文明世界只有几百米。
正如泽连斯基在第80届联合国大会上警告的那样，“现在阻止普京付出的代价，比明天保护每个港口和每艘船免受俄罗斯恐怖分子和无人机的侵害要少得多”。从全球核安全最脆弱的核心发出的警告很明确：如果不采取果断行动，克里姆林宫发起的军备竞赛可能很快导致整个地球走向灾难。
（图：我，指着一个写着「不要躲藏，保卫（你的国家）！」的标志 – 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
