The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) for the second time after the start of a full-scale war and stated that it was "indefensible."
Sky News writes about it.
According to Grossi, the number of troops has significantly increased in the region, which has made it impossible to protect the ZNPP. However, he did not emphasize which troops he was talking about, although in fact only Russian occupiers are present in that region.
Despite the fact that the IAEA sent a team of specialists to the station back in September, the situation still "remains unstable."
- The purpose of Grossiʼs visit to the ZNPP was to see how the situation at the ZNPP has changed, to talk with the nuclear engineers who operate it, and also to act as a guarantor of the rotation of members of the Agencyʼs permanent mission, which works at the Zaporizhzhia NPP from September 2022.
- Before that, the IAEA stated that the Agency is no longer considering the possibility of creating a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia NPP, because it would "add difficulties."
- Russian troops occupied the ZNPP in early March 2022, and since then it has been under their control. Since August, the occupiers have been regularly shelling the ZNPP and Energodar, as a result of which the station was completely disconnected from the power grid several times. Ukraine insists on the withdrawal of the Russian occupiers from the station. Volodymyr Zelensky stated that while Russian soldiers are at the ZNPP, "the world remains on the brink of a radiation disaster."
- The situation at the ZNPP has been in the spotlight since the beginning of August, when the Russian military began shelling the plant. Russia has rejected calls to demilitarize the nuclear plant under the pretext of "protecting it" from provocations, and blames Ukraine for the shelling.