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Zaporizhzhia staff abducted as shelling continued
Summary
A look back at 9 December 2022, when reports of abducted nuclear plant workers sat alongside heavy shelling in Donetsk region and a sentence in Moscow.
What did security look like on 9 December 2022? Reports from that day pointed in several directions at once: a nuclear plant, a besieged front-line city and a Moscow courtroom.
Zaporizhzhia plant
Ukraine's Energoatom said on 9 December 2022 that Russian soldiers had abducted two senior staff members from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The company said the two workers were beaten and then driven off in an unknown direction. The claim was part of the wider crisis around the plant during the Russian invasion.
Bakhmut and the Donetsk front
On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of destroying the front-line city of Bakhmut after weeks of relentless shelling by Russian forces.
The days before pointed the same way. On 8 December, Russian shelling along the front line in Donetsk region killed one civilian and damaged buildings in Toretsk. On 7 December, shelling of Kurakhove in Donetsk Oblast killed ten civilians and injured five others. Taken together, the reports describe continued pressure on towns across the region and a steady toll on civilians.
Dissent in Russia
The security picture also had a domestic side in Russia. On 9 December 2022, a court in Moscow sentenced the prominent opposition figure Ilya Yashin to eight and a half years in prison. The charges were related to his criticism of the war in Ukraine.
What the day showed
The reports from 9 December 2022 cover three separate arenas. At the Zaporizhzhia plant, the focus was on the safety of its staff. In Donetsk region, civilians and buildings were hit by shelling, and Bakhmut was singled out by Ukraine's president. In Moscow, a court handed down a long prison term over criticism of the war.
