Russia asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday to take measures to prevent alleged attacks by Ukrainian forces on the Zaporijia nuclear power plant after Kiev denounced alleged Russian plans to sabotage the infrastructure.
Meeting with IAEA Director Rafael Grossi in the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the leaders of Rosatom (Russia’s state-owned atomic energy company) asked for concrete measures from the United Nations agency to ensure the safety of nuclear energy factory of Zaporijia, the largest of its kind in Europe.
During the meeting, the two sides began to analyze the principles that Grossi says are fundamental to guaranteeing that security: not to launch military attacks on the plant; that it is not used to store weapons of offensive capability; that the energy supply of the plant is not compromised and that the essential structures are protected.
According to a statement by Rosatom, the director of this Russian agency, Alexei Likhachev, stressed that he expects concrete measures from the IAEA to prevent attacks by the Ukrainian army on the nuclear power plant.
The meeting took place two days after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, denounced that Russia is preparing actions against the Zaporijia power station, which is under the control of Russian troops.
“Our intelligence services have obtained information that Russia is considering a scenario of a terrorist attack on the Zaporijia power station, an attack that releases radiation,” Zelensky said on the Telegram social network.
“They have prepared everything for this purpose,” he said, according to the French news agency AFP.
According to Rosatom’s statement on Friday, during a visit by Grossi to the Zaporijia plant on June 15, the director of the IAEA had the opportunity to verify alleged “consequences of attacks by the Ukrainian army using ‘drones'” on the electricity distribution system . of the Zaporijia Nuclear Power Plant (next to the Nuclear Power Plant).
“Likhachev explained to the director general of the IAEA the measures taken by the Russian side to ensure the safe operation of the Zaporijia plant, including the supply of water after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam by the Ukrainian army” Rosatom added in the statement. .
According to the Russian agency, Grossi was also able to “personally verify that the hydrotechnical facilities of the Zaporijia Nuclear Power Plant are operating normally and that the cooling pond has sufficient water reserves for the safe operation of the station”.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.7 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
