22 UK Union Leaders Demand Action to Free Abducted Ukrainian Nuclear Workers

Twenty‑two national trade union general secretaries have issued an unprecedented joint call urging the UK Government to take urgent action to secure the release of Ukrainian nuclear workers abducted, tortured and imprisoned by Russian occupation forces at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

The statement, published today on Labour List, highlights the plight of the “Zaporizhzhia 15” — members of the Nuclear Power and Industry Workers’ Union of Ukraine (Atomprofspilka) who have been abducted, tortured, subject to show trials on fabricated charges and sentenced to up to 25 years in prison under the Russia’s occupation regime.

Among those imprisoned is Serhii Potyng, a member of Atomprofspilka’s Youth Council. Potyng was targeted for his union and humanitarian work; his wife was detained and tortured before he himself was abducted, beaten, accused of ‘terrorism,’ and sentenced to 20 years.

A crisis for nuclear safety and workers’ rights

Since Russia’s seizure of the plant in 2022, ZNPP workers have faced coercion to accept Russian citizenship and sign contracts with Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation. At least 1,000 workers have endured psychological or physical abuse, including torture, according to Atomprofspilka.

Only 3,000 of the original 11,000 staff remain at their posts, working under occupation and intimidation to maintain the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear facility. This drastic reduction in staffing has placed the plant — and millions across Europe — at grave risk.

The joint statement is led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and signed by leaders from major unions including GMB, Unite, UNISON, PCS, UCU, ASLEF, and many others. Their intervention comes as thousands of trade unionists gather in Brighton for the TUC Congress, where the NUM has tabled a motion calling for coordinated UK and international action to secure the release of the detained workers and defend free trade unions in occupied Ukraine .

This statement has been joined by an Early Day Motion to Parliament lodged by Labour’s  Nadia Whittome MP, co-sponsored by  Ian Lavery MP and John McDonnell MP, also calling for government action.

The initiative has been organised by the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, a UK‑based labour movement organisation providing aid and support to Ukrainian workers under attack.

Chris Kitchen, General Secretary of the NUM, said: “The repression at ZNPP is part of Russia’s murderous war against the Ukrainian people, which has targeted and killed thousands of civilians. This is not a distant conflict. It is a struggle for the fundamental rights every trade unionist holds dear: the right to organise, to work in safety, to live free from persecution. Ukrainian workers are defending those rights under bombardment. The Ukrainian labour movement has appealed directly to us for solidarity. TUC Congress must answer that call.”

Christopher Ford, Secretary of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, said: “We are witnessing the return of Stalin‑era show trials in occupied Ukraine, with union members at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant sentenced to decades in Putin’s new gulags. Today, in Europe, workers are being subjected to brutal colonial exploitation: abducted, tortured and imprisoned for carrying out trade union activities. This is an assault not only on Ukrainian workers, but on the fundamental rights and freedoms of the labour movement everywhere. We call on the Labour Government and the wider movement to take a robust stand: defend Ukrainian workers, defend their unions, and demand the immediate release of all imprisoned trade unionists.”

The coalition of union leaders urges the UK Government to:

The persecution of ZNPP workers is part of Russia’s wider war against the Ukrainian people — killing thousands of civilians and systematically targeting workplaces and workers, and union buildings. 

Since Russia began its war on Ukraine in 2014, Ukrainian unions have been systematically attacked. Independent unions were banned in occupied Donbas and Crimea. Russian forces murdered Ivan Reznichenko, a leader of the miners’ union NGPU  in 2015,

The 2022 full‑scale invasion expanded occupation and imposed colonial rule. Ukrainian unions have been suppressed.  Workers are being brutally exploited by Russian state and oligarch employers.

The Nuclear Power and Industry Workers’ Union of Ukraine in partnership with British unions is calling on the UK Government, together with international partners, to press the Russian Federation to immediately release all detained ZNPP workers and comply fully with the Geneva Conventions; to impose comprehensive sanctions on Rosatom for its role in the occupation regime; and to review the Russian Federation’s status within the International Atomic Energy Agency.