Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of trying to hinder the IAEA mission at the nuclear power plant
A Russian off-road armored vehicle is parked outside the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant during the visit of the IAEA expert mission in the course of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict on the outskirts of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, September 1 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
Ukrainian and Russian agencies continue to accuse each other of trying to hamper the International Atomic Energy Agency’s mission to safeguard the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
“The Russian military lies, manipulates and misrepresents the reality of the Zaporizhia NPP by only disseminating information regarding the IAEA mission visit that it might benefit from,” Ukrainian nuclear power supplier Energoatom said on Friday.
He also accused the Russians of trying to prevent the International Atomic Energy Agency mission from learning the facts on the ground.”
Energoatom also said: “Military trucks, deployed in the turbine halls of power plants, failing to meet all fire safety requirements, were presented to IAEA experts as chemical defense force equipment. The Russian military tries to hide all nuclear and radiological safety violations created by him”.
“At the Zaporizhia NPP only operational personnel were allowed to work, while the presence of people on the routes of the IAEA delegation members was significantly limited,” Energoatom said.
“It is clear that under such conditions it will be difficult for the IAEA to make an impartial assessment of the situation at ZNPP.”
For their part, pro-Russian officials in the occupied zone blame the Ukrainians for impeding the work of the IAEA.
Alexander Volga, head of the military-civilian administration of Enerhodar, stated on Friday that “the shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not stop, but its intensity significantly decreased,” and that technicians continued to work on the restoration of damaged power lines. “as a result of the massive shelling of Enerhodar from the Ukrainian side.”
Volga said that the IAEA team still at the plant “received the relevant documents on the nuclear power plant, as well as a map of the bombing by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Most of the IAEA mission left the plant following a several-hour visit on Thursday, but a small team remains. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi promised that the agency would have a continued presence at the plant.