A video shared by Belarusian media outlet Nexta on Twitter on Saturday shows dozens of cars lined up on a road reportedly near the plant. Cars are seen at a standstill, with many people waiting and standing outside their vehicles. “People are leaving #Energodar and other nearby towns en masse amid continuous shelling of the area,” Nexta tweeted. Other Twitter users, including Maria Avdeeva, director of investigations at the European Union of Experts in Ukraine, also shared the video on Saturday. “A huge convoy of cars is trying to leave the occupied Enerhodar. People are leaving their homes next to the Zaporizhzhya NPP, controlled by Russian terrorists, blackmailing the world with a nuclear disaster. Today the Russians bombed a nuclear power plant again,” he wrote. A huge convoy of cars is trying to leave occupied Enerhodar. People leave their homes next to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, controlled by Russian terrorists, blackmailing the world with a nuclear disaster. Today the Russians bombed a nuclear power plant again. pic.twitter.com/x3UspAl5Uu — Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) August 13, 2022 Newsweek was unable to independently verify the videos and reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries for comment. On Saturday, Reuters reported that Ukrainian officials said once again that Russian forces were shelling near the plant. However, a Russian official said the shelling actually came from Ukrainian forces. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted on Saturday that the Russians were shooting at part of the power station “where the energy that supplies southern Ukraine is stored.” “The goal is to disconnect us from the [Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant] and they blame her [Ukrainian] army for this,” he added. “Why would 🇷🇺 shoot himself at ZNPP?” — the ru-propagandists pretend to be clowns. Explanation: The radio frequency detonates the part of the nuclear plant where the energy that powers southern Ukraine is stored. The aim is to disconnect us from ZNPP and blame the 🇺🇦 army for it. The UN and IAEA continue to stare at the ceiling — Mykhailo Podolyak (@Podolyak_M) August 13, 2022 The NPP is located in Russian-occupied territory, but is still operated by Ukrainians. In recent days, the two countries have traded accusations over who is carrying out the shelling near the facility. Video on social media reportedly shows vehicles leaving the area of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Enerhodar, Ukraine, which has seen shelling in recent days, raising concerns of a possible nuclear accident. Above, a Russian soldier patrols the site of the nuclear plant on May 1. Andrey Borodulin On Friday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said “accidents” could happen at nuclear power plants in the European Union, also citing what he claimed was Ukrainian bombing near the plant. “Rockets and shells are falling closer and closer to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant reactor and radioactive isotope storage facilities. They say it’s Russia,” Medvedev said in a Telegram post, adding that blaming Moscow is “nonsense”. In an interview with The New York Times published Friday, Edwin Lyman, a nuclear energy expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, warned that a fire in one of the plant’s transformers could shut down the facility’s cooling system, which in turn could lead to the release of radioactive materials.
