Russian President Vladimir Putin has decreed Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant is a Russian federal asset, absorbing all facilities and employees as the Kremlin’s push in the east loses momentum against Ukrainian forces. The nuclear facility, the largest in Europe, was captured by Russian forces in March, with Ukrainian employees running day-to-day operations under siege conditions that have the world’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, concerned about the facility’s vulnerability to disaster. In a decree published Wednesday by Russia’s Tass news agency , Putin ordered the official takeover of Zaporozhye nuclear assets, stating: “The Russian government shall take measures to establish federal ownership of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and other facilities necessary for its operation.” According to Tass, Putin also instructed the government to set up the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant federal state unitary company, granting “the joint-stock company the Operator of the Zaporozhye NPP the status of an […]