The UN nuclear agency called for an immediate end to Russian military actions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia facility and warned that there was “a very real risk of nuclear disaster”.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), said he was “extremely concerned” by the news of the bombing at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Ukraine said parts of the facility occupied by Russian forces in March were “severely damaged” by military forces.
The Russians have kept Ukrainian officials in the operations, but the Ukrainian government accuses Moscow of using “terror tactics” by launching rockets from the region into civilian areas.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Russia was using the area to launch attacks and that Ukrainian forces were taking advantage of the “protected state” of the nuclear plant to reduce the risk of night attacks.
The resort is located on the left bank of the Dnieper River, near the city of Energodar in Southeast Ukraine.
In a statement, Grossi said yesterday’s attacks pose a threat to “public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond”.
“Any military firepower directed from or performed by the facility is tantamount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences,” he added.
Noting that Ukrainian workers at the facility must perform their important duties “without threats or pressure”, he noted that the IAEA should be allowed to provide technical support.
Days after saying the facility was “totally out of control”, Grossi said, “We must all put our differences aside and act now to protect people in Ukraine and elsewhere from a possible nuclear accident. The IAEA is ready.”
Enerhoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear agency responsible for operating the power plant, said Russian missile attacks forced a “power unit” to shut down and there was a risk of radioactive leaks.
Image: Getty Images
Enerhoatom wrote in a statement to Telegram that the actions “posed a serious risk to the operational safety of the facility.”
Moscow accuses Ukraine of carrying out the attack.
The BBC could not independently confirm the damage reported at the nuclear power plant.
However, the European Union condemned Russia for the recent bombing. The bloc’s head of diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said it was “another example of a serious and irresponsible violation of nuclear security rules and Russia’s disregard for international norms”.
Borrell requests IAEA access to the facility.
Russian forces hold nuclear facilities, consisting of six pressurized water reactors and storing radioactive waste, and also control neighboring areas.
Civilians near Nikopol, on the banks of the Dnieper River and still under Ukrainian control, told the BBC that the Russians were firing rockets from around the facility and transporting military equipment to the complex.
“Any bombing of this site is a shameless crime, an act of terrorism,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
source: Noticias
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