The IAEA visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is scheduled for this Thursday. /
Experts say the mission continues despite “increased military activity” in the region
The visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant scheduled for this Thursday continues its course despite the hostilities in the region. The attacks continue in the surroundings of the atomic plant, which can cause the experts to fail to reach their objective. Meanwhile, the Russian and Ukrainian authorities accuse each other of boycotting the inspection.
“We demand that Russia stop the provocations and grant the IAEA unhindered access to Ukraine’s nuclear facilities,” Oleksandr Staruj, governor of Zaporizhia, denounced Thursday, after stressing that Russian air strikes on the route established by experts to reach nuclear facilities has not allowed the United Nations team to continue “for security reasons”.
Energodar, the town where the plant is located, has been the target of “constant bombing” since early in the morning, its mayor, Dimitro Orlov, has stressed. “Since five in the morning, the constant mortar shelling of the city has not stopped. Several civilian targets are known to have been hit. There are victims! We are finding out exactly how many”, the councilor has written on his Telegram channel.
Moscow, for its part, blamed kyiv for the attacks. The Russian Army accused Ukrainian troops of crossing the Dnieper River to recapture the plant, which has been in the hands of the Kremlin since early March. “Around 6:00 (local time) two groups of Ukrainian saboteurs, up to about sixty people, landed on board seven ships three kilometers northeast of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement, which claims to have taken “measures to destroy the enemy.” In addition, the spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs, Maria Zajarova, has defended that they are doing everything necessary for the nuclear agency’s mission to be successful.
“We will not stop”
Will the United Nations team be able to reach their destination? The director of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, has it clear. “We will not stop,” he assured. Despite this “increased military activity” in the area, and after “weighing the pros and cons, having come so far”, the plan will continue. “We have a very important mission to accomplish,” he stressed. He has also indicated that, after the first analysis of the situation of the facilities, together with his team – made up of fourteen experts – he will assess the possibility of establishing a permanent presence of the IAEA in them “to stabilize the situation” and be able to “offer updates trusted, impartial, and neutral regulars.
Meanwhile, fighting continues around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. In fact, due to the hostilities of this day, one of the six reators has been arrested as a preventive measure. “Today at 04:57 (local time), due to another mortar shelling by the Russian occupation forces on the Zaporizhia NPP compound, emergency protection was activated and operational power unit 5 was switched off” , explained the Ukrainian state operator Energoatom.