The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, estimated Thursday that we were “on borrowed time” concerning the “safety” of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporijjia, near which two mines recently exploded. “If we do not act to protect the plant, our luck will run out sooner or later, with potentially serious consequences for human health and the environment”, warned Rafael Grossi in a press release issued in Vienna, where the headquarters of the IAEA.
“We are on borrowed time with regard to nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhia power plant”, the largest in Europe, which has been occupied by the Russians since March 2022, he added, reiterating fears already repeatedly expressed by his organization. Two landmine explosions occurred outside the fence surrounding this site, the first on April 8 and another four days later, the statement said.
Information to remember:
– The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, estimated on Thursday that we were “on hold” concerning the “safety” of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporijjia, near which two mines have recently exploded.
– The IAEA director further warned on Thursday that this site, which houses six nuclear reactors, continued to depend on a single power line still in operation, which constitutes “a major risk for nuclear safety and security” .
– The European Union has added the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner to its list of individuals and entities sanctioned for “active participation in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine”
“A major risk for nuclear safety and security”
It is not yet known what triggered the explosions, said Rafael Grossi, who met with senior Russian officials in Kaliningrad (western Russia) last week. He had gone to the Zaporijjia power plant shortly before, for the second time since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The director of the IAEA also warned Thursday that this site, which houses six nuclear reactors, continued to depend on a single power line still in operation, which constitutes “a major risk for nuclear safety and security”. An emergency power line damaged on March 1 has still not been repaired, the UN agency said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency also noted that the personnel situation at the plant remained “complex and difficult”, including due to staff shortages.
Highlight the threat
The European Union also added Thursday the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner to its list of individuals and entities sanctioned for “active participation in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine”. This group of mercenaries, which is fighting in eastern Ukrainian territory to try to seize the cities of Bakhmout and Soledar, had already been placed in February on another EU sanctions list for violating human rights. Man and “destabilization” of countries in Africa.
The European Council, which represents the 27 member states of the European Union, explained that the new list of sanctions “complements” the previous one. Wagner, he continued, was listed there for “actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”
The fact that this paramilitary organization is thus doubly sanctioned “underlines the international dimension and the seriousness” of its activities, as well as “its destabilizing impact on the countries where it is active”, noted in a press release the Council.
The latter also added to its list of natural and legal persons targeted by the sanctions RIA FAN, a Russian media that is part of the Patriot Media Group, whose board of directors is headed by Evgueni Prigojine, the boss of Wagner.
Responsible for the beheading of a Ukrainian man?
A Russian NGO and a Wagner defector have claimed that mercenaries belonging to this group were responsible for the beheading of a man who appears to have been a Ukrainian prisoner of war. Evgueni Prigojine rejected these accusations, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced a new exaction by Russian “monsters”.
In a viral video that lasts one minute and forty seconds and has been circulating since Tuesday, an individual in camouflage, with his face masked, is seen slicing the neck of another uniformed man struggling on the ground and screaming “it hurts “. The Russian prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday that it had started examining these images.
Persons – natural or legal – sanctioned by the European Union are subject to a freezing of their assets on the territory of its Member States and a ban on traveling there. Also, no one in the EU is allowed to make funds available to them. The EU has taken ten successive rounds of sanctions against Russia over the past year, following its military offensive in Ukraine.