Russia And Ukraine Accuse Each Other, UN Secretary General Is Expected To Support The Visit Of The IAEA Delegation To The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

JAKARTA - Russia expects UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to take a number of steps to support the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (PLTN).

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged exchanges of gunfire in the vicinity of the power plant, raising fears of the radiation threat if it hits vital infrastructure inside.

"Now, it is up to the UN Secretariat and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres himself, because he is one of those whose words of support for this visit are needed," said Deputy Director of the Department of Non-Proliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Igor Vishnevetsky. TASS 10 August.

"He not only needs to talk, but also needed to make sure the visit is realized. We will help him in every way possible," he continued.

"At some point, we were ready to accept inspectors, everything was ready. However, the UN Secretariat Security Department refused to allow it. The IAEA must not violate that recommendation. The mission did not happen. This came as a big surprise to everyone, including IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. ," he explained.

The explanation refers to the original plan, in which the mission led by the IAEA will carry out inspections in June.

Russia itself wants the IAEA to visit the plant, to obtain a complete and objective picture of the current situation.

"We are interested in the IAEA having the most complete and objective picture of the situation there, especially given the stupid statement that Russia opened fire at the plant," Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter.

As previously reported, Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shooting at the site of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which is currently in the territory occupied by the Moscow army.

Some of the shots targeted areas near spent fuel storage facilities, an area containing 174 containers of highly radioactive material, said head of Ukrainian nuclear power company Energoatom Petro Kotin, warning of the danger if the containers were hit.

"This is the most radioactive material in all nuclear power plants. It will (mean) distribution (of) around this place, then there will be like a radiation cloud, with the weather deciding which way the cloud goes," he said.

"The risk is very high," said Kotin.

On the other hand, Russia said Ukrainian troops had repeatedly carried out attacks targeting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant area. On August 7, the Ukrainian military is said to have opened fire on the plant, targeting, in particular, a warehouse of spent nuclear fuel.

The civil-military administration of Energodar where the nuclear power plant is located said the Kyiv regime had fired a 220mm Uragan rocket with a cluster warhead, damaging the station's administration building and the adjacent warehouse area. Previously, the Ukrainian military bombed the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on August 5 and 6.

It is known that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe and has a capacity of about 6,000 MW. These nuclear power plants produce a quarter of all electricity in Ukraine.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant consists of six power units and from 1996 it operated as a separate unit of the Kyiv-controlled national nuclear power company Energoatom.

The Russian army took over control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in March 2022. Currently, the nuclear power plant is operating at 70 percent capacity, as the Zaporizhzhia region liberated from the Ukrainian army has a surplus of electrical power.