Capture of Zaporizhzhia NPP by Russians poses serious threat, - Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the presence of Russian troops at the Zaporizhzhia NPP poses great risks and called for the plant to be demilitarized and for an IAEA inspection to be allowed there as soon as possible.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to the EP.
"The capture of the Zaporizhzhia NPP by Russian forces poses a serious threat to the safety of this facility, increases the risk of an incident or accident, and endangers the population of neighboring countries and the international community in general. It is necessary to urgently enable the inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency and ensure the withdrawal of all Russian forces." - said the Secretary General of NATO.
We will remind you that the Zaporizhzhia NPP in Enerhodar has been occupied by Russian troops since March 4.
The station continues to work under the leadership of "Energoatom" on the energy system of Ukraine, but not at full capacity, because many lines around it are damaged. Communication with the staff is available around the clock. At the same time, the occupiers fully control security at the ZNPP: staff access to workplaces, passage/exit to the station. Workers report regular cases of abuse by Russians against them. In particular, employees were deprived of access to the shelter.
Recently, the Russian military has been consistently shelling the territory of the station. "Energoatom" warns that the shelling is being carried out to destroy the infrastructure, disconnect it from the energy system of Ukraine and cut off electricity in the south of our country. Talks about reconnecting the ZNPP to the RF power grid were conducted by the occupiers from the beginning.
On August 8, the occupiers announced that they were demining the Zaporizhzhia NPP and that they were ready to blow it up. Ukraine sent letters to the UN and the IAEA with the demand to send a security mission to the ZNPP.
On August 11, a meeting of the UN Security Council regarding the situation at the Zaporizhia NPP was held in New York. The meeting was called at the request of Russia due to shelling of the ZNPP allegedly by the Ukrainian military.
The representative of Ukraine called for demilitarization of the station for the visit of the IAEA mission, but the permanent representative of the Russian Federation did not support this proposal.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that the trip of the IAEA delegation to the Zaporizhzhya NPP via Kyiv and then across the contact line was dangerous.
