VIENNA — The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said
Saturday he was “alarmed” by Friday’s shelling at Ukraine’s
Zaporizhzhia power
plant, Europe’s largest such facility.
اضافة اعلان
In a statement Rafael Grossi, director-general of
the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that the strikes
represented “the latest in a long line of increasingly alarming reports” and
underlined “the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public
health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond”.
Earlier on Saturday the plant’s operator said
Friday’s shelling had “seriously damaged” a station containing nitrogen and
oxygen and an “auxiliary building”.
Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for the
attacks.
Grossi said: “I condemn any violent acts carried out
at or near” the plant or against its staff.
He added that “military action jeopardizing the
safety and security” of the plant was “completely unacceptable and must be
avoided at all costs”.
Grossi also reiterated his willingness “to lead a
mission of IAEA safety, security and safeguards experts” to Zaporizhzhia.
Ukraine has so far rejected the idea of such a
mission, which it says would legitimize Russia’s presence at the site.
Russian troops have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant
since the early days of their invasion of Ukraine.
However, Grossi insisted that he would “not give
up”.
“I will continue to push and push again for this
IAEA mission to finally take place,” he said, while admitting that it would
require “cooperation, understanding and facilitation from both Ukraine and
Russia”.
As part of such a mission
“IAEA safeguards inspectors could conduct essential verification activities at
the plant” and the IAEA “would also provide impartial and independent
information” about the status of the plant, Grossi said.
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