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Gallery|Russia-Ukraine war

Photos: Hundreds evacuated from Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant area

Nearly 1,700 people evacuated from two unspecified cities in the region as Russia steps up attacks against Ukraine.

Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
Locals take refuge in a volunteer-run shelter that provides access to laundry and bathroom facilities where evacuees can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
Published On 8 May 2023

An evacuation of 1,679 people, including 660 children, has been carried out near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, a Moscow-installed official says.

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog warned on Saturday that the situation around Europe’s biggest nuclear energy plant has become “potentially dangerous” as Russian officials began evacuating people from nearby areas.

Ukraine is expected to soon start a much-anticipated counteroffensive to retake Russian-held territory, including in the Zaporizhia region.

“[The evacuees] have already been placed in the temporary accommodation centre for residents of the front-line territories of the Zaporizhia region in Berdiansk,” Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of the Zaporizhia region, said on his Telegram messaging channel.

Berdiansk is a southeastern Ukrainian port city on the coast of the Sea of Azov, which has been occupied by Russia since the early days of Moscow’s invasion on Ukraine in February 2022.

Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive soon, and the Zaporizhia region is considered a prime target, which means towns like Orikhiv could see more shelling and combat. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
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Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
Anxiety about the safety of Europe's largest nuclear power plant has grown after the Moscow-installed governor of the Ukrainian region where it is located ordered civilian evacuations on May 7, 2023, including from the city where most plant workers live. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
A building sits gutted in Orikhiv after it was destroyed in an aerial bombing. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
The evacuations ordered by the Russia-backed governor raises fears that fighting in the Zaporizhia region will intensify. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
A sewing workshop in Orikhiv sits empty after it was damaged by shelling. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
Russian soldiers seized the Zaphorizhzhia nuclear plant soon after the invasion of Ukraine was launched last year, but its Ukrainian employees have continued to run it during the occupation, at times under extreme duress. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
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Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
An empty street in the town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhia region. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]
Local residents sit in a volunteer run shelter, providing access to laundry and bathroom facilities where they can warm up, charge their phones, drink hot tea and receive humanitarian aid in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region
Ukraine has regularly fired at the Russian side of the front lines while Russia has repeatedly shelled Ukrainian-held communities across the Dnipro River. The fighting has intensified as Ukraine prepares to launch a long-promised counteroffensive to reclaim ground taken by Russia. [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]