UN chief calls for international access to Ukrainian nuclear plant after the latest attack
The United Nations has called for international inspectors to be given access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after the weekend strikes left the plant damaged but still operational.
“Any attack on the nuclear plant is a suicidal thing,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, adding that the UN “fully support the IAEA in all their efforts in relation to create the conditions of stabilization of the plant”.
Built in the Soviet era, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Europe’s biggest atomic facility. During the war, Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in March but retained its Ukrainian employees.
IAEA demands sending team of experts to the site
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi expressed grave concerns and said the situation presented a dire threat to public health and the environment in Ukraine and far beyond its borders.
“Any military firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences,” he said, appealing to both sides to exercise utmost restraint in the vicinity of this important nuclear facility.
Grossi demanded sending an IAEA team of nuclear safety, security and safeguards experts to the site as soon as possible, stressing that this mission would play a crucial role in helping to stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation at the power plant.
“IAEA safeguards inspectors would conduct essential verification activities at the plant. We would also provide impartial and independent information about the status of the Zaporizhzhia facility,” the IAEA chief said urging cooperation, understanding and facilitation from both Ukraine and Russia.
Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom, called for peacekeepers to be deployed in and run the Zaporizhzhia site.
Alarm over shelling on power plant
The weekend shelling at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex raised alarm bells as Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other for the attacks while seeking to address fears that their battle for control of the plant might trigger a catastrophe.
Ukraine said the facility was hit by Russian shelling Friday and Saturday and has called for the plant to be demilitarized. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of waging “nuclear terror”.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it was Ukrainian artillery that hit the plant, damaging a high-voltage power line that served the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
Independent reports could not verify the claims of either side.