KYIV, March 27, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Russian forces took control of a town where
staff working at the Chernobyl nuclear site live and briefly detained the
mayor, sparking protests, Ukrainian officials said Saturday.

"I have been released. Everything is fine, as far as it is possible under
occupation," Yuri Fomichev, mayor of Slavutych, told AFP by phone, after
officials in the Ukraine capital Kyiv announced earlier he had been detained.

Earlier, the military administration of the Kyiv region, which covers
Slavutych, announced that Russian troops had entered the town and occupied
the municipal hospital.

They also said that the mayor had been detained.

Residents took to the streets, carrying a large blue and yellow Ukrainian
flag and heading towards the hospital, the administration said. Russian
forces fired into the air and threw stun grenades into the crowd, it added.

It also shared on its Telegram account images in which dozens of people
gathered around the Ukrainian flag and chanted: "Glory to Ukraine."

Later Saturday, Fomichev posted a video on Facebook saying that at least
three people had died, without elaborating on what had happened.

"We haven't yet identified all of them," he added, but said that civilians
were among the dead.

While they had defended their town, they were up against a larger force, he
said.

The Chernobyl plant was taken by the Russian army on February 24 on the same
day that Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Some 25,000 people live in the town 160 kilometres (99 miles) north of the
capital, built after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday it was "closely
monitoring the situation" after Ukraine's nuclear regulator informed it that
the town had been seized by Russian forces.

The UN atomic watchdog said it was concerned about the ability of employees
at Chernobyl to rotate and return to their homes to rest.

"There has been no staff rotation at the NPP for nearly a week now," the IAEA
said.

The town's capture comes after the first staff rotation at Chernobyl plant
last weekend since Russia took control.

About 100 Ukrainian technicians continued to run the daily operations at the
radioactive site for nearly four weeks without being rotated.