The situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is “deteriorating further”, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi warned on Wednesday, as Ukrainians accused Russia of having it bombarded again.
“The situation is still deteriorating and we cannot afford the luxury of waiting for something catastrophic to happen,” Grossi said after a meeting on the situation at the French representation to the UN, opened by the president. Emanuel Macron. The IAEA director said he had discussed it with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whom he met on Wednesday morning on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. “As long as the shelling continues, the risks are enormous,” he added.
Rafael Grossi also spoke with the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba, he said shortly afterwards during a press conference, also expressing the hope “of being able to go to kyiv soon and perhaps to be later in Russia”.
No agreement was reached on the establishment of a protection zone around the plant, he agreed, specifying however that “the real negotiations on the parameters” of this zone were only “beginning” .
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Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday accused Russia of having again bombed the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, while ensuring that the radiation rate in this installation did not exceed the norm.
“Even in the worst conditions, diplomacy should never stop (…) It is our responsibility to do so with pragmatic and realistic proposals, and that is what we are trying to do,” commented Rafael Grossi.
“More resolute acts” against Moscow
At his side, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna specified that the objective was “a demilitarization of the plant within the framework of the sovereignty of Ukraine”.
By reporting new bombings, the public operator of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, EnergoAtom, called on the IAEA on Wednesday for “more resolute acts” against Moscow.
The Zaporijjia plant, occupied by Russian troops since the first weeks of their invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, has been repeatedly targeted by bombardments in recent months. kyiv and Moscow blame each other and accuse each other of nuclear blackmail.