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The
head of Ukraine's state-run nuclear energy company said on
Sunday there were signs that Russian forces might be preparing
to vacate Europe's biggest nuclear plant, which they seized in
March, soon after invading Ukraine.
The Kremlin dismissed the statement.
"There's no need to look for signs where there are none and
cannot be any," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a
briefing on Monday.
Russia and Ukraine, which both suffered from the world's worst
nuclear accident in Chornobyl in 1986, have accused each other
of shelling the complex, which has six reactors.
Both sides have warned of the danger of a nuclear catastrophe.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy
Agency, wants to create a protection zone around the plant.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said late on
Sunday that he had no doubt Russian forces would leave the
plant, where Ukrainian staff are still working.
"The defence line is starting to retreat to the borders of the
Russian Federation," Podolyak told Ukrainian television, adding
that Ukraine would take the plant back.
Ukraine's military said last week that about 30 Russian
servicemen had been wounded near Enerhodar, the town closest to
the plant. Reuters was not able to immediately verify the
reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin moved in September to annex
Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions,
which Russian forces partially control. Kyiv and its Western
allies condemned the move as illegal.
(Writing by Lidia Kelly and Kevin Liffey; editing by Philippa
Fletcher)
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