VIENNA/KYIV (Reuters) – The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said on Friday that six members of the UN agency had remained at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and that he would return account of its inspection mission earlier this week, while Kyiv denounced Russian “interference”.
Speaking at a press conference upon his return to Vienna, Austria, Rafael Grossi said the IAEA delegation had access to everything it had requested during its 24-hour inspection at the southern power plant -eastern Ukraine occupied by the Russian army.
He specified that he had had no contact with the Russian military and that he had not been able to ask them questions, while Moscow and Kyiv have been accusing each other for weeks of bombing the power plant located near the front line.
Rafael Grossi said that six of the fourteen members of the delegation had remained there and that two of them would remain there for the duration, after the departure of the other four scheduled for next week. Moscow had given its agreement on this point earlier in the day.
The director general of the IAEA said he plans to submit his report on the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant early next week.
The UN, Ukraine and its Western allies have repeatedly called for the demilitarization of the Zaporizhia power plant to avoid any risk of nuclear disaster, a measure rejected by Russia, which refuses to give up control of it when on the contrary, it would aim to redirect electricity to the regions it controls, starting with the Crimea annexed in 2014.
ENERGOATOM DENOUNCES RUSSIAN OBSTRUCTIONS
While Kyiv has denounced the presence of Russian weapons in the perimeter of the plant in recent weeks, the Ukrainian public energy company Energoatom affirmed that Russia had not authorized the UN delegation to “enter the crisis center where currently stationed Russian soldiers that IAEA inspectors are not supposed to see”.
“The (Russian) occupants are lying and distorting the facts, whether it is the evidence that attests to their bombardments of the plant or their consequences on the infrastructure” of the plant, can we read in a press release from Energoatom posted on Telegram messaging.
“It is obvious that under such conditions it will be difficult for the IAEA to make an objective assessment of the situation.”
On this point, Rafael Grossi declared on his return to Vienna, where the IAEA headquarters are located, that the crisis center had been moved to another room without this having any consequences on the proper functioning of the plant.
The IAEA director general said on his arrival in Zaporizhia on Thursday that the UN agency’s inspectors had to provide an impartial, neutral and technically sound assessment of the situation on the ground.
Located in the town of Enerhodar, about 120 kilometers from the city of Zaporizhia from which it takes its name, the nuclear power plant fell under Russian control in early March, shortly after the launch of the offensive in Ukraine, but its operation remains ensured by Ukrainian technicians from Energoatom, under the supervision of Russian forces.
ZELENSKY PROMISES ELECTRICITY TO EUROPE
The surroundings of the plant, about ten kilometers from territories still under Ukrainian control, on the other bank of the Dnieper river, have been the subject for several weeks of recurring bombardments for which Russians and Ukrainians reject responsibility, fueling fears of nuclear disaster and prompting several countries and international organizations to call for the establishment of a demilitarized zone.
Despite the difficulties linked to the presence of Russian troops on the site, the IAEA mission remains important and will have a role to play, said Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky on Friday in a video message broadcast during the Ambrosetti forum, which brings together every year politicians, economists and entrepreneurs in Cernobbio, in northern Italy.
“We have done everything to ensure that the IAEA can access the Zaporizhia plant and I think this mission could still play a role,” said Volodimir Zelensky.
“Unfortunately we have not yet heard the essence of the IAEA, which is to say a call for Russia to demilitarize the plant,” he added.
While the European Union and Russia are engaged in an economic standoff over gas, stoking fears of energy rationing and recession in several countries, the Ukrainian president stressed that securing the plant and returning it to a normal operation would help Europe in a context of energy crisis.
“Ukraine is ready to increase its electricity exports to European Union countries,” he said.
(Report by François Murphy in Vienna and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, with Valentina Za and Elvira Pollina in Cernobbio, Italy; French version Myriam Rivet and Tangi Salaün)