According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia, which is under constant fire, is currently not a security risk. «IAEA experts have preliminary determined that there is no imminent security threat as a result of the shelling or other military actions. However, this can change at any time, »said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.
Bild:
Keystone/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Just a few hours before the meeting of the most powerful UN body requested by Russia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant came under fire once more. Before the Security Council, Grossi called on Moscow and Kyiv to quickly allow international experts to visit. “Personally, I am ready to lead such a mission.” Important facts might not be gathered without the physical presence of representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The United States also pushed for a trip by experts: “This visit can not wait any longer,” said the US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, Bonnie Jenkins.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Wassili Nebensya promised Moscow’s cooperation: “We are ready to provide any support we can in solving organizational matters.” A visit should ideally take place in August. After the meeting, Nebensia emphasized that no country on the 15-member Security Council blamed Russia for the shelling of the nuclear power plant.
It was unclear whether a group of UN experts might be sent to the nuclear power plant. “We are talking regarding a nuclear power plant in the middle of a battlefield,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday. This raises enormous security concerns for United Nations employees.
Ukraine accuses Russian troops of using the nuclear power plant as a fortress for attacks. The pro-Russian separatists, in turn, accuse Ukraine of wanting to persuade the West to intervene by shelling the power plant. Rogov rejected calls by the group of seven leading industrialized nations (G7) to return the nuclear power plant to Ukrainian control. “It would be like putting a hand grenade in a monkey’s hand,” he wrote.
