JAKARTA - The Ukrainian president assessed that the Russian military was holding the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (PLTN) hostage, saying its security could not be guaranteed until they left Europe's largest plant.
Russian troops have occupied the nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, since the initial weeks of the invasion of Ukraine last year, showing no tendency to relinquish control.
"ndering a nuclear power plant for more than a year, this is clearly the worst thing ever to happen in the history of European nuclear power or around the world," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video speech at night.
He denounced Russia's presence by calling it "radiation-employment".
President Zelensky's comments came after a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi at the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant, northeast of PLTN Zaporizhia.
"The initiative to restore safety and security will certainly fail" without the withdrawal of Russian troops from the power plant, President Zelensky said in comments posted on the presidential website.
It is known that Russia and Ukraine routinely accuse each other of firing at PLTN Zaporizhia. The surrounding fighting and concerns about water shortages, with the cooling system could lose power, have raised fears of a nuclear disaster.
A team from the IAEA has been stationed at the PLTN since last September, which Kyiv accused Moscow of using as a shield for troops and military hardware.
Grossi himself has repeatedly called for a safe zone around him and will visit him again this week. He has tried to negotiate with both sides, but in January he said efforts to reach an agreement were increasingly difficult.
Zaporizhia is one of four regions Russia claims after annexation in September, following a referendum that was criticized globally as a trick. Russia considers the power plant its territory, which Ukraine denies.
President Zelensky visited the southeastern region of Zaporizhia on Monday, the latest phase of a tour into frontline areas since a top general said that a retaliatory Ukrainian attack would occur soon.
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