Yesterday at 23:06
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the IAEA mission, following its visit to the Zaporizhia NPP, should state violations by the Russian military.
He said this at a press conference in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson and Foreign Minister Ann Linde
“We expect the mission to make a clear statement about the facts of violation of all nuclear security protocols. We know that Russia has put Ukraine and the whole world at risk of a nuclear incident. The international community must be united by one demand – the withdrawal of Russian troops from the ZNPP,” Kuleba said.
The minister said he spoke with the CEO on Sunday and coordinated the final details of the mission.
“Ukraine has been asking the IAEA for a long time to access the ZNPP. They have extensive experience inspecting nuclear power plants worldwide under the most difficult circumstances. But without exaggeration, this mission will be the most difficult in the history of the IAEA, given the active hostilities and the means that Russia uses to legitimize its presence there,” Kuleba said.
Earlier, the mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency has gone on a trip to visit the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The visit itself will take place this week.
The situation at the ZNPP has been in the spotlight since early August when the Russian military began shelling the plant. Russia has rejected calls to demilitarize the nuclear plant under the pretext that it must “protect it” from provocations and blames Ukraine for the shelling.
The United Nations declared its readiness to facilitate the visit of IAEA inspectors to Zaporizhia from Kyiv, but Russia insisted that the mission should not go through Kyiv.
On August 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed Russia’s consent to the IAEA mission at the ZNPP in a conversation with the French Foreign Minister. The route the mission will eventually take is still unknown.
On August 25, for the first time in history, the ZNPP was completely disconnected from the power grid. The mayor of Energodar, Dmitry Orlov, said that this happened after the shelling. The Energoatom said that the reason was the fires. Later, the IAEA reported that the Zaporizhia NPP had resumed connection with the fourth communication line with the Ukrainian energy system, but all six power units were disconnected.
