Shelling at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has violated virtually all seven nuclear safety and security pillars, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has said.
However, IAEA experts believe the shelling hasn’t caused an immediate nuclear safety threat, based on information provided by Ukraine, Grossi says.
For days, Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for attacks on the site, which is Europe’s largest nuclear plant and has raised concerns of a major accident.
The complex has been under Russian occupation since early March, although Ukrainian technicians still operate it.
“All military activities that endanger nuclear and security must be stopped,” Grossi has said.
G7 nations have condemned Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and called on Moscow to “immediately hand back full control” to Ukraine.
Ukrainian staff operating the plant “must be able to carry out their duties without threats or pressure. It is Russia’s continued control of the plant that endangers the region,” the G7 foreign ministers said in a statement.
“The Russian Federation must immediately withdraw its troops from within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and respect Ukraine’s territory and sovereignty,” it said.
The G7 have said they remain “profoundly concerned by the serious threat” posed by Russia’s actions around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
They say the actions of Russia’s armed forces are significantly raising the risk of a nuclear accident or incident and endangering the population of Ukraine, neighbouring states and the international community.
The G7 reiterate their “strongest condemnation” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which they call an “unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression”.
They say Russia’s actions also undermine the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor the safety of nuclear activities in Ukraine.
Source: BBC