plant leave former worker 'very scared'                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Russian forces do not “generally understand what a nuclear station is and how to control it,” Alyona told NBC News.                                                                                                                                                                       

By Morgan Chesky, Erika Angulo and Yuliya Talmazan

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — As Ukraine and Russia trade blame for shelling around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, one former employee said the consequences could be catastrophic and that she is terrified for her former colleagues at the facility in the town of Enerhodar. 

“The mood there is very sad. It is very scary for them to work,” Alyona, 37, told NBC News on Tuesday from the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is still under Ukrainian control. 

NBC News isn’t revealing her last name because she still has family in parts of the Zaporizhzhia region under Russian rule and she fears repercussions. Also, her husband is in the Ukrainian army. 

Alyona said she stopped going to work as an engineer at the nuclear plant after Russian forces seized it in March and escaped to Zaporizhzhia soon after.

She added that she is still able to call and exchange messages with some of her former co-workers at the plant, which was operated by around 11,000 people before the Russian invasion. The number of staff currently working there is unknown.                                                                                                                                         

“I feel really scared that they are in there,” Alyona said about the Russian forces who had taken control of the plant, adding she did not think they “generally understand what a nuclear station is and how to control it.” 

“They are doing such senseless things that it makes me scared,” she said. 

Her comments came after Kyiv and Moscow traded accusations over who is responsible for attacks on the Soviet-era site. 

Ukraine said Russian shelling hit the plant Friday and Saturday, damaging several buildings, putting one reactor offline and raising the threat of radiation leaks and fires.Energoatom, Ukraine’s national energy company, said in an update Wednesday that the Russian attacks have caused “a serious risk” to the safe operation of the plant, with monitoring sensors damaged and a possibility of radioactive leaks. It added that the plant remains operational and continues to produce energy for Ukraine. It added the attacks had damaged a high-voltage power line that served the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.