Western media on the spot
ntv reporter Rainer Munz is granted access to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
09/02/2022, 12:00 p.m
A few hours after the IAEA team arrived at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy claims that the Russian occupiers are barring journalists from entering. However, this is wrong. Nonetheless, Western journalists were limited in what they could do.
Contrary to the claims of President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, international media representatives accompanied the experts of the Atomic Energy Agency IAEA during their investigation into the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia. Including ntv correspondent Rainer Munz. Together with Russian soldiers, Munz was able to enter the site of the nuclear power plant with a camera team on Thursday and film the bullet holes in the damaged reactors.
Zelenskyy had previously claimed that the Russian occupiers would not have let in any international media. It was agreed with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi that Ukrainian and international journalists could be present on the mission to the Russian-occupied power plant in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian head of state said in his daily video address on Thursday evening. When Grossi made a statement in front of the nuclear power plant, only microphones from Russian media could be seen on Russian state television, according to Selenskyj.
Russian military chose filming locations
The trip by ntv reporter Rainer Munz to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant took place at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The team was able to film what the Russian military allowed. Wasn’t allowed to film in front of certain military projects. Otherwise there were no restrictions, and all reporters were free to make their own personal assessments, reports Munz. He and his team therefore decided to take part in the trip so that they could get their own picture of the situation in Zaporizhia despite the restrictions. In addition to ntv, media representatives from France, Italy, Greece, Venezuela and Denmark were also represented. Rainer Munz has meanwhile returned to Moscow, from where he has been reporting for ntv since the beginning of the war.
Difficult IAEA mission
The Ukrainian operator of the nuclear power plant occupied by Russian troops has now expressed doubts about a neutral assessment of the power plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Due to the Russian influence, an independent assessment by the IAEA is difficult, said the operator Energoatom. In addition, the IAEA delegation is denied access to the crisis center of the facility.
The inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency reached the power plant, which had been under fire for weeks, on Thursday afternoon to examine it for damage, for example. Kyiv and Moscow blame each other for recent shelling and hitting at the site of the nuclear power plant. Concern is growing internationally that a nuclear catastrophe could occur.