The abduction and detention of the director-general of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is part of efforts by Moscow to take control of the facility and incorporate it into state nuclear corporation Rosatom, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom said.

Petro Kotin said Ihor Murashov had been detained on 30 September on his way from the nuclear station to his home in the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia.

“His car was stopped, he was taken from the car and blindfolded and he was driven in an unknown direction,” Mr Kotin said. “At the moment we do not have information about where he is. He is supposedly detained in facilities at Energodar, but we do not know for sure.”

Energodar (also spelled Enerhodar) is a city under Russian occupation in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, about 130 km from Zaporizhzhia city.