Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Sunday of “catastrophic consequences” of attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe and occupied by Russian forces, the Kremlin said.
In a telephone interview with Mr. Macron, Vladimir Putin drew attention to “regular Ukrainian attacks once morest the sites of the Zaporizhia power plant, including the deposit of radioactive waste, which might lead to catastrophic consequences” , according to a statement from the Kremlin.
The Russian president also informed his French counterpart of the “measures taken by Russian specialists to ensure the security of the plant and underline the need to put pressure on the Kyiv authorities so that the bombardments targeting the plant stop immediately” .
The two leaders also expressed their willingness to “cooperate in a depoliticized manner on the situation around the Zaporizhia power plant, with the participation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” according to the press release.
The interview took place on the initiative of the French president, according to the Kremlin.
During the telephone conversation, Vladimir Putin once once more denounced the deliveries of Western weapons to the Kyiv regime, used according to him for “massive bombardments of the civil infrastructures of the cities of Donbass”, mining basin in the east of Ukraine.
The two leaders have already spoken on the phone on August 19 regarding the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant.
Located in southern Ukraine and controlled by Russian forces, this plant, the largest in Europe, has been bombed several times in recent weeks, Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of these strikes.
This situation raised the specter of a major catastrophe similar to that of Chernobyl in 1986.
On Sunday, Ukraine announced the shutdown of the sixth and last reactor in operation at the Zaporizhia power plant, explaining that it was necessary to cool it.