The Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, announced Thursday that the members of the organization “remain” at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which they visited Thursday.
Grossi, whose visit spanned several hours, said he would remain concerned until the situation at the station stabilized.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency is at the site now, at the station, and it will not budge, it will remain there,” he told reporters.
He continued, “We will have a continuous presence there at the station by some of our experts.”
He went on to say that these experts would provide what he called an impartial and technically sound assessment of what is happening on the ground.
And he added, “I have worried in the past, I am concerned now, and I will remain concerned regarding the station until we have a more stable and more predictable situation.”
According to the Russian news agency Interfax, four of the nine vehicles of the agency’s convoy left the site in the evening, which arrived Thursday followingnoon at the station.
A visit to assess the security situation at the station
Earlier on Thursday, a spokesperson for the International Agency confirmed to the French press that the mission had arrived at the Zaporizhia station, and the Russian RIA Novosti agency, for its part, published a video clip showing the convoy of vehicles, some of which bear the United Nations logo, upon its arrival at the station.
In turn, Grossi, who leads the team of 14 experts, stressed, “We are aware of the current situation. There have been military activities, including this morning, a few minutes ago” but “we will not stop, we will move.”
“We will immediately begin assessing the security situation at the station,” he added.
The International Atomic Energy Agency wants to have a “permanent” presence at this plant in southeastern Ukraine to avoid the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe.
“It is time to stop playing with fire and instead take concrete measures to protect this site and other similar sites from all military operations,” ICRC Director-General Robert Mardini told reporters in Kyiv. And he warned that “the slightest mistake may cause havoc that we will regret for decades.”
mutual accusations
The work of a nuclear reactor at the Zaporizhzhya plant was suspended due to Russian bombings, according to the police operating the atomic power stations, “Energoatom”, which confirmed that one of the six reactors at the plant is still operating.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of launching artillery strikes on the city of Energodar, where the Zaporizhia station is located.
For its part, the Russian army confirmed Thursday that the Ukrainian forces had sent two groups of “saboteurs.”
In another parallel war, the gas war, the Russian giant Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it has “completely” halted its shipments to Europe via the Nord Stream gas pipeline, due to maintenance work that is expected to last three days.
At a time when European countries, especially Germany and France, are working to reduce their dependence on Russian gas, Hungary announced Wednesday an agreement with Gazprom to receive additional shipments.
On the diplomatic front, European Union foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to suspend an agreement reached in 2007 with Russia to facilitate the issuance of reciprocal short-stay visas.
The Kremlin responded Thursday that it was “a ridiculous decision that falls into a series of absurdities.”
TRT Arabic – Agencies