The Russian army has taken control of the town of Slavoutitch, where the staff of the Chernobyl power plant reside, briefly arresting the mayor and sparking pro-Ukrainian demonstrations, Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday.
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“I have been released, everything is fine, as far as it is possible under the occupation,” Yuri Fomichev, mayor of Slavoutitch, told AFP by phone, whose arrest by the Russians had been announced. in the morning by the Kyiv regional administration.
After being released, he spoke at an anti-Russian demonstration, which he said gathered some 5,000 people, and assured that Russian troops would soon leave the city. He then told AFP that they would withdraw on Sunday.
“The Russian occupiers have invaded Slavoutitch and occupied the municipal hospital”, wrote in the morning on Telegram the military administration of the Kyiv region, which includes Slavoutitch, a city of 25,000 inhabitants 160 km north of the capital, built after the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
Protesters unfurled a huge Ukrainian blue and yellow flag and marched towards the hospital, according to regional authorities, who released photos of dozens of people gathered around the Ukrainian flag and chanting “Glory to Ukraine”.
According to them, Russian forces fired into the air and threw stun grenades into the crowd.
However, the demonstration ended peacefully, the mayor told AFP.
In the evening, the latter indicated in a video posted on Facebook that at least three people had died, without specifying when and under what circumstances.
“We have deaths, it is true. Three confirmed deaths so far,” he said. “We haven’t identified them all yet,” he said, adding, however, that there were “civilians among them.”
“We staunchly defended our city,” but “our forces were absolutely unequal,” he said.
The Chernobyl plant was taken by the Russian army on February 24, the first day of the invasion of Ukraine.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed its “concern” on Thursday, after being informed by the Ukrainian authorities of bombings on Slavoutitch.
These developments come just days after the first rotation of employees who have managed day-to-day operations at the radioactive waste site since the start of the invasion.
For nearly four weeks, a hundred Ukrainian technicians had to manage the daily operations on the radioactive waste site without being relieved.