Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s nuclear power provider said Saturday, reigniting long-simmering fears over the plant's security. The alleged kidnapping on Friday apparently took place shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated his war in Ukraine and pushed it into a new,

The nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, is located in one of four Ukrainian regions which Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed this week to have annexed.

Russia has been accused of kidnapping the director general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant just moments after Putin signed a decree claiming the region.

A Russian patrol has detained the director general of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the state-owned company in charge of the plant said on Saturday, and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Russia had confirmed the move.

Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s nuclear power provider said Saturday, reigniting long-simmering fears over the plant's security.

Ukraine's capture of a city within territory of Russian President Vladimir Putin's declared annexation demonstrates that Ukrainians are making progress and able to push back against Russian forces, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday.

Russian forces withdrew from the eastern city of Lyman under Ukrainian fire a day after the Kremlin illegally annexed that region and three others.