MOSCOW, May 10./TASS/. The situation in the city of Energodar remains tense but manageable, and all public infrastructure facilities are operating as usual, Alexey Yasinsky, the director for strategic communications of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant operator, said on Wednesday.
"The situation in Energodar is stably tense due to the rumors [about the evacuation of Zaporozhye NPP employees] spread by Kiev. At the same time, all social infrastructure facilities are operating as per usual," Yasinsky told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
Some families are leaving the city voluntarily, he went on to say. "People leave voluntarily with their children; they are now vacationing at a health resort in Berdyansk. Those who opted to stay in the city, have stayed. Others, who wanted to leave, have left. There is no reason to panic. The situation in the city [Energodar] is stable. I strongly advise against falling for provocations," the company official said.
On May 5, Acting Governor of the Zaporozhye Region's Yevgeny Balitsky said that residents of 18 settlements in the region will be temporarily relocated deeper into the region amid intensifying Ukrainian shelling. Andrey Kozenko, the region’s deputy prime minister for economy, told TASS that about 70,000 people are to be evacuated, with residents being relocated on a voluntary basis.
The nuclear power plant will go back to its normal regime starting Thursday, with all employees who stayed home for the recent holiday returning to their workplaces, Yasinsky stressed.
"Starting tomorrow, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant will begin to operate absolutely routinely; all employees are going back to work, and nobody is evacuating," he told Rossiya-24.