Today at 15:20
Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko regarding the Visit of the IAEA Mission to the Zaporizhia NPP:
At the invitation of the government of Ukraine, the IAEA formed a mission to visit the temporarily occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The mission includes 14 international experts and is headed by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
The delegation of international nuclear scientists has already left Vienna and should arrive in Kyiv. The mission is expected to begin its work at the ZNPP in the coming days.
The IAEA mission will focus on three main tasks:
– Physical protection
– Nuclear safety
– Guarantees of non-proliferation of nuclear materials
Ukraine’s position has been clear: the occupation of the ZNPP by Russian troops and the importation of a large amount of military equipment and ammunition into its territory in violation of all international rules expose the nuclear plant to extreme danger, in particular provoking a nuclear incident.
As Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba emphasized, Russia must immediately demilitarize the facility, withdraw military units, equipment and Rosatom’s experts and return control over the ZNPP to the government of Ukraine.
We expect the IAEA will play an important role in achieving this goal.
As it is known, the Russian military seized the ZNPP on the night of March 4. Since then, military personnel and heavy equipment have been stationed on the NPP premises. In early August, the invaders also fired several times on objects located on the ZNPP territory, as well as mined the plant.
President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the world and said that no one had ever fired on nuclear power plants. He said that the Russians were effectively blackmailing Ukraine and the world with an explosion that would be a disaster on a global scale.
There are 6 power units in Enerhodar. In total, there are 15 nuclear units in Ukraine. Only one exploded at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, with devastating consequences.
