UN Secretary General Urges Demilitarized Zone Around Ukraine's Nuclear Power Plant

JAKARTA - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for military activities around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) to be stopped, when the UN Security Council meets to discuss the situation.

Guterres urged the withdrawal of military personnel and equipment and no more troops or equipment to be deployed. He called on Russia and Ukraine not to target the plant or the surrounding area.

"The facility should not be used as part of any military operation. Instead, urgent agreement is needed at the technical level on safe demilitarized boundaries to ensure the security of the area," Guterres said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of using the nuclear power plant "to threaten the whole world."

"Only Russia's complete withdrawal from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant region and the restoration of Ukraine's complete control over the situation around the plant, can guarantee the resumption of nuclear security for the whole of Europe," President Zelensky said in a video of his evening speech.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Ukrainian shelling had partially damaged a thermal power plant and a spark pool that is part of the reactor's cooling system.

Separately, the United States supports calls for a demilitarized zone around the plant, the US undersecretary for arms control and international security, Bonnie Jenkins, told the UN Security Council.

He said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visit "couldn't wait any longer."

It is known that Russia seized Europe's largest nuclear power plant in March, after invading Ukraine on February 24.

The nuclear power plant is still run by Ukrainian technicians. Ukraine's energoatom said the area was hit five times on Thursday, including near a radioactive material storage site.