Nuclear workers describe beatings, detention, and looting by Russian soldiers to force them to keep a Ukrainian power plant running

• Former workers at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant have spoken about mistreatment by Russian soldiers.
• They described being shot with rubber bullets, beatings, and detention and witnessing murders.

Workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have told The Times about alleged torture they endured at the hands of Russian soldiers.

When the Russians captured Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, they had to use brute force to compel the 11,000-strong workforce to continue to do their jobs under the new Russian occupation regime. Hundreds of employees who showed "pro-Ukrainian sympathies" were targeted.

It included, a source told The Times, being shot with rubber bullets, beatings, and detention — and, if they continued to show support for Ukraine — murder.

If people do make it out of these situations alive, they told The Times that the Russians would sometimes torture them in other ways.

One man, who described being repeatedly beaten and shot, said that when he was able to return home after three months of detention, Russian soldiers had stolen all of his electrical appliances, including his washing machine.

This news comes one month after the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine wrote that "the Commission has found that the Russian armed forces' waves of attacks, starting 10 October 2022, on Ukraine's energy-related infrastructure and the use of torture by Russian authorities, may amount to crimes against humanity."

The Zaporizhzhia allegations are the latest in a series of accounts accusing the Russian military of torture.

Earlier this week, a Ukrainian woman delivered harrowing testimony to US lawmakers, recounting scenes of torture, physical abuse, and mock executions.

Insider's Jake Epstein reported that the 57-year-old woman was forced to dig her own grave, as well as being beaten, forced to undress, cut with knives, and threatened to be raped and killed by Russian soldiers.