The leaders of the four major Western powers issued a call on Sunday (21st) against “military operations” in the area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest atomic power plant.
The facility is Ukrainian, but under Russian military control, and was the scene of fighting in early August, raising fears of a nuclear disaster like the one in Chernobyl.
US Presidents Joe Biden and French Presidents Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke on the phone and stressed “the need to avoid military operations around the facility”.
They also stressed the importance of technicians from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit “as soon as possible to check the status of security systems” in Zaporizhzhia.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of carrying out attacks in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant, currently operated by Ukrainian authorities but under the command of Moscow.
Last Friday (19) Macron spoke with President Vladimir Putin and said that the Russian leader has agreed to send an IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhia, but the Kremlin still has not approved it.
Last week, Russia listed some conditions for allowing inspection, which Moscow said were “impossible” at the moment, including that the mission should not pass through Kiev or deal with the disarmament of the facility. (
source: Noticias
