IAEA: Zaporizhzhia NPP will need “special status” in case of signing of a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi believes that the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP will need a "special status" if a peace agreement is reached between Russia and Ukraine.

Reuters writes about this.

According to him, no matter which side the ZNPP is on, "there needs to be an agreement on cooperation or an atmosphere of cooperation".

Grossi added that without peace, the threat of a nuclear incident remains.

“Until the war ends, a ceasefire is reached, or the weapons fall silent, there is always the possibility that something will go very, very wrong. No single operator can operate a nuclear power plant when there is another country on the other side that opposes it and can take action against it,” the IAEA chief said.

The proposed 28-point peace plan, published by Western media, stated that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant would be put into operation under the supervision of IAEA, and the electricity produced would be divided equally between Russia and Ukraine.

Peace plan for Ukraine

The 28-point US peace plan was first reported by NBC News, and all of its points were published by Axios. One of the main provisions concerned territories and stipulated that Crimea, as well as the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, would be recognized as de facto Russian. The US President Trump has set a deadline for approving the plan of November 27.

After the plan was leaked to the media, Ukraine, the United States, and European partners held a series of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 23. After all the meetings, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported “tremendous progress”. Despite Trump’s words about a deadline, Rubio allowed for a more flexible schedule that would allow for more negotiations.

Financial Times sources wrote that the American plan was reduced from 28 points to 19. It is not known exactly which provisions were removed. The Telegraph previously published an alternative plan from the EU, which contained 24 points.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the document retained the points on the need to release civilians and prisoners of war on an "all for all" basis and return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. He also confirmed that the plan had been shortened and Ukraineʼs position had been taken into account.

Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsia, who was part of the delegation, said that the US agreed not to limit the size of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to 600 000, and the clause on amnesty for potential war criminals was reworked to take into account "complaints of those who suffered in the war".

The most controversial issues were put "out of brackets", in particular, the issues of territories and relations between the US, NATO, and Russia. They are to be discussed by Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump.

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