The Russians sentenced 56-year-old employee of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) Natalia Shulha to 15 years in prison — they kidnapped her in July 2024. The woman was accused of “attempted sabotage in collusion with the SBU employees”.
This was reported by the mayor of Enerhodar Dmytro Orlov.
According to him, the Russians stated that in June 2024, a woman allegedly tried to "blow up a power line in Enerhodar in order to damage the power supply to the 3rd microdistrict".
This is what Natalia looked like before being imprisoned in the Russian Federation.
After Russian “law enforcement officers” of temporarily occupied Enerhodar kidnapped Natalia on July 12, 2024, they took her into custody.
The mayor of Enerhodar says that as "evidence" against the the ZNPP employee, the Russians used a clearly staged video shared on occupation resources, which was filmed by the occupiers themselves in different places and from different angles with the forced participation of the already detained Natalia.
On Wednesday, March 5, the occupation "Zaporizhzhia Regional Court" rendered a verdict against the woman, finding her guilty and sentencing her to 15 years in prison and a fine of 500 000 rubles.
"Unfortunately, there are a lot of such fabricated ʼcriminal casesʼ against civilians in the occupied territories by the occupiers. Regularly making new fake cynical accusations, the occupiers continue to hold our citizens captive, extracting confessions from them under pressure, and handing them criminal sentences, calling it ʼjusticeʼ," emphasized the mayor of Enerhodar Dmytro Orlov.
- The Russians occupied ZNPP in early March 2022, and it has been operating under their control ever since. During this time, ZNPP has experienced eight complete blackouts and one partial one.
- An IAEA mission has been stationed at the station since September 2022. Ukraine insists on the withdrawal of Russian occupiers from the station. President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasizes that as long as Russian soldiers are at the ZNPP, “the world remains on the brink of nuclear catastrophe”. Russia refuses to create a demilitarized zone at the ZNPP.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on February 4 that Russia had taken hostage two Ukrainian energy workers who worked at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. They were thrown behind bars because they allegedly had some Ukrainian content. The president stressed that it was important for Ukraine to return them, and discussed this issue with the IAEA delegation during their visit to Kyiv.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.