The IAEA is working with all parties to send a mission to the Zaporozhye NPP as soon as possible

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is cooperating with all parties on the issue of sending a mission to the Zaporozhye NPP as soon as possible, informed Interfax with reference to the agency’s statement.

“In light of the serious situation, the Director General reiterated the need to send an IAEA mission to ensure safety, security and safeguards at the facility in southern Ukraine. He said the IAEA is actively consulting with all parties to dispatch this mission as soon as possible,” the statement said.

The document specifies that the mission will be led by the agency’s director general Rafael Grossi, who welcomes statements from Moscow and Kyiv to support the mission.

August 11 Russian Foreign Ministry warnedthat shelling by the Ukrainian military could lead to catastrophic consequences, on a scale exceeding the explosion at the station in Chernobyl, and the catastrophe could affect not only Russia and Ukraine, but also European countries.

August 16 became known on the start of preparations for the second IAEA mission to ZNPP. According to Mikhail Ulyanov, permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, the preparations are still going slowly because of the vacation of the director of the agency, Rafael Grossi.

The UN also announced its readiness to ensure the visit of the organization to the station through Kyiv, with the consent of Russia and Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry objected that it was unsafe to deliver the mission through the capital of Ukraine, since the path from Kyiv to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant runs through the front line.

Zaporozhye NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper near the city of Energodar. Four days after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian troops took control of the station. Subsequently, Energodar and the station were repeatedly shelled by the Ukrainian military.