2023-07-09 09:00:25
Russia urges NATO to deal with Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. At its summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, the military alliance should focus its attention primarily on the nuclear power plant, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. After all, the vast majority of NATO member states would be within direct sphere of action should anything happen to the facility. Ukraine would “systematically inflict damage” on the nuclear power plant.
This was stated by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova. The largest European nuclear power plant is occupied by Russian troops. It came under fire several times during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the warring factions blame each other.
Most recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had made “progress” in inspecting several parts of the nuclear power plant occupied by Russian soldiers. “I think we’re making progress,” said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi on Friday during a visit to Tokyo. “We were able to complete the visits to the cooling pools and other locations.” “No evidence of explosives or mines” was found.
According to Grossi, IAEA employees have not yet been able to inspect the roofs of the facility. “I’m pretty confident that we will get this approval,” continued the IAEA chief. “This is a combat zone, an active war zone, so sometimes it can take a day or two to get those permits.”
The situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant had triggered great international concern in the past few days. After repeated warnings from Russia and Ukraine of alleged attack plans by the other side, the IAEA on Wednesday requested extended access to the plant to check whether there were mines or explosives on the power plant site.
The Ukrainian military had accused the Russian occupiers, among other things, of having attached “explosives-like objects” to the roofs of two reactors. Their detonation should give “the impression of a shelling from the Ukrainian side”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned of a “subversive act by the regime in Kiev.”
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The Russian army took control of it on March 4, 2022, shortly after the start of its attack on Ukraine. Kiev and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of endangering the safety of the nuclear power plant.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the heads of state and government of the 31 NATO countries will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania, to discuss, among other things, the prospects of Ukraine joining NATO. Progress is also to be made in Vilnius towards completing Sweden’s accession to NATO. Before the impact of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Sweden, like Finland, had applied for NATO membership in May 2022. Finland has been a member since the beginning of April, while Sweden still lacks the approval of Turkey and Hungary.
Ankara is blocking Sweden’s accession mainly by pointing out that Sweden is not taking adequate action against “terrorist organizations”. There have always been meetings between representatives of the countries to solve the Turkish blockade, most recently in Ankara in mid-June. Erdogan had doubted Sweden’s admission until the NATO summit at the time.
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