Western leaders urged to ensure the safety of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant
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US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for military restraint near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and for an early visit by IAEA staff to the site, reports Reuters with reference to the statement of the British side following the results of telephone conversations.
“During a joint call, the Prime Minister, President Joe Biden, President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz underscored their strong commitment to supporting Ukraine in the face of a Russian invasion,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement. “They stressed the importance of ensuring the safety and protection of nuclear installations and welcomed recent discussions about the possibility of sending an IAEA mission to the Zaporozhye site.”
On August 11, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that shelling by the Ukrainian military could lead to catastrophic consequences, exceeding the scale of the Chernobyl explosion, and the catastrophe could affect not only Russia and Ukraine, but also European countries.
On August 16, it became known about 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 town 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.
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