The chief of the UN atomic watchdog said on Wednesday he was working on a compromise security plan for the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and warned of increased military activity around it. There are persistent fears over the safety of the plant in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, where there has been frequent shelling since Russian troops invaded last year.
During a rare visit to Europe’s largest nuclear plant currently controlled by Russian forces, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said he was working to find a compromise that would suit both Moscow and Kyiv.
“I am trying to prepare and propose realistic measures that will be approved by all parties,” Grossi told reporters during a press tour organised by Moscow.
“We must avoid catastrophe. I am an optimist and I believe that this is possible,” said Grossi, who arrived at the plant in a Russian armoured vehicle, surrounded by soldiers in full combat gear. But he also warned of “increasing” military activity around the nuclear plant and hoped Russia and Ukraine would agree on safety principles.
He added that the visit to the plant was “extremely useful.” The idea is to agree on certain principles, certain commitments, including not to attack the plant,” he separately told AFP.
Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of shelling the plant, increasing fears of a disaster.
We are far from having any illusions that Grossi’s visit will dramatically change anything. For us, this is an ordinary working event,” he was cited as saying by Russian news agencies.
The plant needs reliable electricity supply to ensure essential nuclear safety and security functions. But it has suffered repeated electricity outages during the war, causing alarm in the IAEA and the international community.
The Russian invasion has caused devastation across swathes of the country, and despite more than 13 months of gruelling battles, Ukraine’s top diplomat on Tuesday struck a defiant tone. Russia has to withdraw from every square meter of Ukrainian territory,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a virtual session ahead of the Summit for Democracy, which US President Joe Biden will formally kick off on Wednesday. There should be no misinterpretation of what the word withdrawal implies.”
In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, fighting in recent months has concentrated on the eastern city of Bakhmut, with Kyiv saying it is holding out in the urban hub to exhaust Russian troops. The key military objective of Russia’s invasion is the complete capture of Donetsk, which it already claimed to have annexed last year, even as fighting there is ongoing.
Source: eNCA
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