A civilian protest in Energodar, a town in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, was dispersed on Saturday by mortar and stun grenade fire that injured four, a Ukrainian official said.
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“Today in Energodar, the inhabitants of the city gathered again for a rally in support of Ukraine, singing the national anthem”, declared on Facebook Lyudmyla Denisova, in charge of human rights at the Parliament.
“The occupiers used stun grenades and opened mortar fire on the residents, four people were seriously burned,” she added.
Videos posted online showed people running from an Energodar plaza amid stun grenade explosions and clouds of white smoke.
“Some of the demonstrators were forcibly put into police vans and taken to an unknown location,” added Lioudmyla Denissova, accusing Russian troops of “terrorizing the population” since the capture of the city.
The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the largest in Ukraine, is located in the territory of Energodar, a city conquered in early March by Russian troops and the fighting around the plant, whose site was hit by strikes, has for a time fearing the worst.