LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - Russian forces are stepping up efforts to seize control of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.

       Russian troops were trying to break through a barricade to the plant erected by local residents and territorial defence forces, Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said in an online post.

       Another adviser, Vadym Denysenko, said the situation was alarming with Russians entering Energodar town where the plant's workers live.

       Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, some 100 km north of Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

       (Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Toby Chopra)