Grossi: IAEA and Kyiv made progress in negotiations on Zaporozhye NPP

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi and Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal have made progress in discussing the creation of a security zone around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the report says. message on the IAEA website.

“While we have not yet reached this point and more work is needed, I am increasingly optimistic that such a zone of paramount importance will be agreed upon and implemented in the near future,” Grossi said.

The head of the IAEA stressed that he would continue to discuss this issue at a high level with both Kiev and Moscow.

“We cannot afford to waste more time,” he added.

The parties also agreed that the IAEA will ensure the permanent presence of its experts at all nuclear power plants in Ukraine to minimize the risks of a nuclear accident amid hostilities.

Russia has controlled the ZNPP since the end of February. In early October, after the Zaporozhye region became part of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to take the plant facilities into federal ownership and create the Zaporozhye NPP FSUE to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.

As before informed The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, the main goal of creating a security zone around the ZNPP is to stop shelling by Ukrainian troops. At the same time, she said earlier that it is not timely to say that Moscow and Kiev are close to agreeing on an acceptable agreement on the creation of a security zone around the Zaporizhzhya NPP: the parties are not conducting direct negotiations in this direction, the possible parameters of the declaration are being discussed through the IAEA Secretariat.