Posted in: 02/09/2022 – 08:04Last updated: 02/09/2022 – 08:12
After his visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, in southern Ukraine, which is under the control of Russian forces, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said Thursday that “the plant and its physical integrity have been violated several times.” Grossi indicated that part of the agency’s team of experts will remain at the facility for several days, “until Sunday or Monday.”
General Manager confirmed to the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi, at the head of a delegation from the Agency, inspected the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, which is under the control of Russian forces in southern Ukraine, that the physical integrity of “the largest nuclear facility in Europe was violated” as a result of being repeatedly bombed.
“It is clear that the station and its physical integrity have been violated several times,” Grossi told reporters. He added that “we do not have the elements to assess this matter,” but “this matter cannot continue.”
After inspecting the nuclear facility and returning to the territory under the control of Kyiv, Grossi indicated that some of the agency’s team of experts will remain at the facility for several days, “until Sunday or Monday,” without specifying their number.
He said that these inspectors will remain to “continue assessment” of the situation at the station, whose surroundings have been bombed several times, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.
The visit by a delegation of 14 inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to Zaporizhia, was highly anticipated for the station occupied by Russian forces since March, while Moscow and Kiev exchange accusations of being behind the bombing.
“We have a lot of work here to analyze some of the technical aspects,” Grossi said.
According to what was reported by the Russian “Interfax” news agency, the agency’s delegation arrived at the station on Thursday afternoon on board nine vehicles, only four of which left in the evening when the visit ended, which means that five vehicles remained at the site.
Grossi had said Wednesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency would try to “maintain a permanent presence” at the plant, an option he had not previously mentioned publicly.
After the inspection mission, which lasted “about four or five hours” at the station, the Argentine said he was able to see “many things”. “We were able to visit the entire site. I was in the (reactor) units and saw the emergency system and other parts, the control rooms,” he said, praising the dedication of Ukrainian staff who continued to work at the plant after it fell to Russian forces in March. “Of course they are in a very difficult situation, but they are incredibly professional,” he said.
Red Cross
“It is time to stop playing with fire and take concrete measures to protect this site and other similar sites from all military operations,” Robert Mardini, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kyiv, told reporters. Mardini warned that “the slightest miscalculation could cause havoc that we will regret for decades.”
It is noteworthy that the work of one of the nuclear reactors in Zaporizhia was halted Thursday due to a Russian bombing, according to the company that operates the atomic power stations, “Energoatom”, which confirmed that one of the six reactors at the plant is still operating.
Accusations of bombing
On Thursday, the Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of launching artillery strikes on the city of Energodar, where the Zaporizhia station is located. The mayor of this city, Dmitro Orlov, wrote from his exile on the Telegram application that “the Russians are launching artillery bombardments on the road that the International Atomic Energy Agency mission is supposed to take towards the Zaporizhia station.”
For its part, the Russian army confirmed Thursday that the Ukrainian forces had sent two groups of “saboteurs”. A statement from the Russian Defense Ministry included, “At about six o’clock (0300 GMT), two groups of Ukrainian army saboteurs, numbering up to sixty people, disembarked from seven boats (…) three kilometers northeast of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant and tried to control of the station. The ministry added that it had taken “measures to eliminate the enemy, with the help of military aviation.”
The station is located on the Dnipro River, whose left bank is controlled by Russian forces in this area. It was not possible to verify these statements from an independent source.
The Russian Defense Ministry also accused the Ukrainian military of launching artillery strikes on the “meeting point” of the International Atomic Energy Agency mission near the nuclear plant. An official in the Russian occupation administration, Vladimir Rogov, confirmed via Telegram that three civilians were killed and one person was wounded as a result of Ukrainian artillery strikes targeting residential areas in Energodar. He posted undated photos showing damaged buildings.
In its evening report, the Ukrainian General Staff reported “intense bombing” targeting the vicinity of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the northeast of the country, and Zaporizhia in the south, in addition to Kramatorsk, Bakhmut and Slovyansk in the east.
On the other hand, the report did not mention any information about the counterattack launched by the Ukrainian army on Monday in a number of southern regions, especially in the vicinity of Kherson, one of the few large cities occupied by Russia.
The Russian army confirmed on Wednesday that it had repelled the attacks of the Ukrainian forces over the past two days and inflicted heavy losses on them.
Europe divided ‘one of Russia’s war targets’
In a report issued Thursday, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch said that Russian forces forcibly transferred Ukrainian civilians, including those who fled the war, to areas under their control.
In a speech at the Elysee Palace in Paris in front of his country’s ambassadors to the world, French President Emmanuel Macron called for continuing dialogue with Russia, stressing that “we must assume that we can always continue talking with everyone”, especially “with whom we do not agree.”
The French president is one of the few European leaders to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, in a strategy that has come under fire. But Macron warned at the same time that “the division of Europe” is “one of the goals of Russia’s war.”
FRANCE 24/AFP