“The time is serious”, says the head of the IAEA to the UN Security Council

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The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, demanded, on Thursday August 11, before the UN Security Council, access to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant that Moscow and kyiv accuse each other of having bombed.

“The situation is serious and the IAEA must be authorized to carry out its mission in Zaporizhia as quickly as possible”said Rafael Grossi, speaking on video during this emergency meeting of the Security Council. ” Hurry up “he insisted, while the IAEA has been trying for weeks to send a mission to inspect the plant.

The site of the Zaporijia power plant, the largest in Europe, under Russian control since the beginning of March, was again bombed on Thursday, kyiv and Moscow accusing each other again of being responsible. Ukraine’s allies, emphasizing the need for the IAEA mission, pointed to Russian responsibility before the Security Council.

Read also: War in Ukraine: kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of new strikes on the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

kyiv and Moscow take turns accusing each other

“The solution for what is happening in Zaporizhia is simple. The United States calls on the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukrainian territory”said Bonnie Jenkins, US Under Secretary of State for Disarmament.

Unsurprisingly, the Russian ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, has himself blamed kyiv and its allies. “We call on states supporting the kyiv regime to (…) force him to put an end once and for all to the attacks on the Zaporizhia power plant”and the UN and the IAEA to tell the Ukrainian authorities that their actions are “unacceptable”did he declare.

“The true scale of a nuclear disaster at the plant is hard to imagine. Full responsibility would lie with kyiv’s Western backers.”insisted the Russian ambassador, qualifying “surrealists”, “cynical and absurd” the charges against Moscow.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers War in Ukraine: intimidation and blackmail around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

While Russia has accused the UN services of having prevented the IAEA mission, the spokesman for Secretary General Antonio Guterres again rejected this idea on Thursday. “This is a nuclear power plant in the middle of a battlefield. I think you can imagine at least two or three pages of obstacles”noted Stéphane Dujarric.

To guarantee the security of the site and allow an inspection mission, Antonio Guterres and the United States called on Thursday for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the plant. “Unfortunately, instead of a de-escalation, even more worrying incidents have been reported in recent days, incidents which, if continued, could lead to a catastrophe”Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

“The whole world must react immediately to drive out the occupants of the Zaporizhia power plant”for his part, hammered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his daily video message. “Only the complete withdrawal of the Russians and the resumption of complete control by Ukraine over the plant would guarantee nuclear security for all of Europe”he continued, denouncing the “Russian nuclear blackmail”.

The World with AFP

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