Is there a fierce collision of Putin, Trump, Jesnki?

In Ukraine, the violent occupation of Russia’s largest nuclear power plant – which Donald Trump has recently stated that he wishes to control – has been haunting the city of Nicopolis for the last three years, located on the opposite bank of the river.

In the end, who and how to possess (Putin, Trump or Zelesnki) in the future its enormous power, is attempting to answer Washington Postfirst of all, the vapor clouds rising above the Nuclear Station of Zeporochia once symbolized the energy independence and economic prosperity of Ukraine, a reminder that the operation of many billions of dollars produced 20% of the electricity of the country and the electricity of the country. It extracts energy to the rest of Europe.

Does Putin, Trump, Jlesnki come in for the largest nuclear station in Europe?

But after the occupation of the factory by Moscow in 2022, the most inactive facility in the city of Enecodar serves as a proof of the Kremlin’s plan to subdue Ukraine’s economy, to control its huge industrial assets and to trim its hopes.

The locals in Nicopolis are now afraid of the silhouettes of the six nuclear reactors over the river, the outlines of an installation that has been turned into a military basis that attacks them and no longer produces the energy the country needs to survive.

In the meantime, being impatient for a quick resolution of Russia’s war in Ukraine, has targeted the factory – part of a process of recovering the previous government’s investment to support Ukraine’s defense.

US ownership of Ukraine nuclear power stations « will provide the best protection for this infrastructure and support Ukraine’s energy needs, » White House spokesman Caroline Livit told reporters.

The proposal deeply shook Ukraine, which has already lost billions of dollars to state assets with the seizure of Russia 20% of its dominant territory. Kiev has long regarded its own possible recovery of the factory as non -negotiable for its financial independence and future security.

Volodimir Zelenski – who is already following a fine line with the White House in fear that he could reopen the help of security and information in Ukraine – told Trump that the factory is a national entity that belongs to the state, but that Kiev is still interested.

The biggest obstacle to any plans for the Zaporizia plant remains the most obvious of all: Russia is currently controlling it and insists it is part of Russia as it annexed the entire Zaporizia region.

Zaporizia: July 23, 2022

« The factory’s return to the Russian nuclear industry is a long -term fact that the international community only needs to recognize, » the Russian Foreign Ministry said on March 25th. « The transfer of the Zaporizia nuclear power plant itself or its control to Ukraine or any other country is impossible. »

For the Ukrainians, a perpetual Russian occupation of the plant is the worst scenario. It means that Ukraine will continue to lose energy from the plant, while spending limited electricity reserves to keep the reactors cool and avoid a devastating nuclear accident.

This means that the residents of Enemigodar, most of whom have fled, will never be able to return home – and reopen the factory where thousands of them once worked. And for the inhabitants of Nicopolis it would mean a permanent presence in the front line.

Yurii Bahno, 40, a temporary head of the Nicopolis Military Regional Administration, says that after the occupation of the factory, Ukrainian secret services have documented that Russian forces were using it to train his recruits in the artillery sector. So far, 79 inhabitants have been killed and 400 were injured.

About 7,000 buildings in Nicopolis have been damaged and over half of the city’s population has abandoned it, he added.

The Washington Post argues that the Russian Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs did not respond to its request to comment on these categories. These ministries regularly state that the Ukrainian forces are bombarding the plant and conducting « nuclear terrorism ».

A few days ago, while entering a team of Washington Post in Nicopolis, residents Marina and Sasha ran out of their apartment building near the river, warning voices of Russian drones. Their previous home was destroyed by bombings and are now living under the constant threat of drones in their temporary apartment.

« You get used to it with despair, » Marina said.

Zaporizia: October 9th 2022

This is the life that Nicopolis fears it will have if Russia maintains control of the plant in any peace agreement.

« The station must definitely be under Ukrainian control, » Bahno said. « There should be no talk of his allocation. Losing the station will be a huge blow to the economy and infrastructure. « 

No one expected that the Russians would attack the factory.

Even when Russian tanks rolled towards Kiev, Kharkov and other cities of Ukraine in February 2022, the inhabitants of Enemodar were sure they were safe. The risks of an attack on a nuclear plant are so great that they have assumed that Russia would not dare to target them. As the Russian troops progressed, unarmed citizens poured into the streets to prevent them.

Then, on March 2, 2022, the Russians opened fire and destroyed the few Ukrainian troops left to guard the plant.

The mayor of Enemogonar, Dmytro Orlov, who is now working on the Ukraine -controlled city of Zaporizia, has argued that a nightmare has since unfolded in his hometown, which has only 20% of its population before the invasion.

The plant operated with more than 10,000 employees. It now operates under other circumstances – some experts have remained to prevent a nuclear disaster, while Russia has recruited staff who has no experience to replace those who fled. A small percentage of residents are likely to cooperate with the Russians, Orlov argued.

Zaporizia: 7 March 2025

The Washington Post argues that, according to data from the Orlov’s office, Russia has captured or tortured more than 1,000 Ukrainian citizens from Enemigodar after the occupation of the city, including the former deputy mayor, who was held for almost a year. At least 21 citizens from the city, most of the factory officials, have been sentenced to long -term prison sentences. Ukraine itself, however, states that these claims are constructed.

According to the same data, many more citizens have been threatened and forced to work at the factory, get Russian passports and sign contracts with Rosatom, the Russian state -owned atomic energy company. The Russian Foreign Ministry insists that all station officials are citizens of the Russian Federation and therefore cannot be subject to Ukrainian power.

« Only one works under Ukrainian control will be completely safe, » Orlov noted, describing any Trump interest in the factory as « definitely positive. »

« We are interested in recapturing the station and the city. The only people who do not like this idea are the Russians, « he said.

Irina Artiukhova, 35, a factory employee responsible for cleaning the water on the premises, has a look at developments on the issue of returning civilians – her husband, also a factory worker, was arrested.

Initially, Artiukhova continued to work at the factory after its occupation, but then, on June 19, 2023, Russians in political clothing came to her cottage, tied her eyes and drove her to the Central Police Station, she says.

Zaporizia: 5 February 2025

There, says Artiukhova, Russian officials asked for information about her husband, Serhii Potyn, a volunteer who helped distribute supplies to citizens. She didn’t know where she was that day or why they wanted him – but they tried to get information to her by torturing her, she adds. She argues that she applied power cables to her ears and toes and caused her to be caused by electricity.

She was released a week later, after finding her husband and kept him. She left the city to reunite with their son, who is now 11 years old, and her mother, who had moved to Turkey. Her husband was sentenced to 19 years in prison on terrorism. Since then, says Artiukhova, their only communication is made through a censored letter per month.

« Knowing people in captivity is very valuable to Ukraine’s energy system and we need them back, » she says.

Natalia, 57, who worked at the factory but fled to the city of Zaporizia and spoke to the Washington Post on the condition that her surname would not be used because her husband remains at Enemigodar, argued that Russian troops invaded her home three times before she left her 20s. And if it is « in a city cavity or in a ghost city ».

« But we are not a colony. And the factory must remain Ukrainian, « he says.

For his part, Volodymyr Kravchuk, 64, who has been serving for decades as a technician and trainer at the factory, says he does not mind if Trump takes over – if that means the Russians are finally leaving. « You can even turn it into the 51st state instead of Canada if it means I can get back home, » he concluded.