Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the shelling of the territory of the Zaporizhia NPP by the Russian Federation

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns the actions of the Russian occupying forces on the territory of the Zaporizhia NPP in the city of Energodar, which they seized on August 5, 2022.

In particular, against the background of the cynical video statement of the president of the Russian Federation at the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that the Russian Federation has no intention to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Russia resorted to numerous provocations at the nuclear facility.

After the military trucks and SUVs filled with weapons were moved to the premises of the 1st and 2nd blocks of the ZNPP, which are under service, at the beginning of August 2022, artillery shelling of the territory near the ZNPP industrial site took place today. As a result of the three recorded hits, the high-voltage power supply line of the ZNPP – Zaporizhia TPP was damaged.

The possible consequences of hitting an operating reactor are equivalent to the use of an atomic bomb.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine calls on the international community to urgently take measures to force Russia to release the ZNPP and return the power plant to the control of Ukraine for the sake of the security of the whole world.”

The U.N. nuclear chief warned that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine “is completely out of control” and issued an urgent plea to Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit the sprawling complex to stabilize the situation and avoid a nuclear accident.

On August 5, 2022, Russians shelled the territory of the Zaporizhia NPP again. There were recorded 3 hits near the industrial site. The enemy hit a high-voltage communication line. This was reported in Energoatom.

Read also: Nuclear menace in Ukraine; situation completely out of control at Russian-controlled Zaporizhia NPP, – IAEA