Occupied Enerhodar, the satellite city of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is gradually disappearing from Ukraine’s information space. Journalists can barely enter the city, and most reports now come through developments at the plant, accounts from residents, and statements by local authorities in exile.
A source interviewed by the publication, retired nuclear industry worker Mariya Mikhailovna, who still lives in the city, says a large share of Ukrainian specialists left after the seizure of the plant. Some initially stayed on without signing contracts with Rosatom, but repression against staff pushed more people to leave to protect themselves and their families.
According to her, many apartments stand empty, yet selling property officially has become extremely difficult. Transactions require registration in the Russian system and in practice are possible only if both buyer and seller hold Russian passports. Powers of attorney issued after February 24, 2022, she says, are effectively rejected or dismissed on formal grounds. That has pushed displaced residents toward a shadow market: without selling homes in occupied territory, many cannot afford rent in areas controlled by Ukraine.
Mariya Mikhailovna says vacant housing is increasingly being occupied by arrivals from Russia, including plant personnel and shift workers. Before the occupation, she estimates, Enerhodar had about 50,000 residents, with more than 10,000 people employed at the nuclear plant and over 2,000 at the thermal power station, and the city was seen as modern and highly educated.
“Everyone feels they are living on a powder keg,” Mariya Mikhailovna says, describing local fears about the condition and safety of the nuclear plant.
Exiled mayor Dmytro Orlov says that in 2022–2023 as many as ten torture sites operated in Enerhodar and that at least 2,000 people passed through them. More than thirty residents, he says, received sentences on fabricated charges, while empty apartments have been reassigned to Russian military personnel, security officers, plant employees, and collaborators. In his view, the occupation authorities are using this process to erode the city’s Ukrainian identity.