The inspection, under high tension, continues in Zaporizhia. At the end of the first day of the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the nuclear power plant of the same name, Rafael Grossi, director of this organization, had admitted that the “physical integrity” of the infrastructure had been repeatedly violated.
“Lots of work here”
According to him, “this is something that cannot continue to happen.” In response, the IAEA wants to “establish a continuing presence” there, his chief reiterated. According to him, this first inspection visit should initially last until “Sunday or Monday.”
“Here we have a lot of work”, in these facilities that Russians and Ukrainians accuse each other of having bombed on numerous occasions, raising fears of a nuclear disaster, he told the media again on his return from the plant, the largest in Europe.
“We were able to visit the entire site. I was in the units (of the reactors, editor’s note), I saw the emergency system and other parts, the control rooms,” he listed, while praising the Ukrainian personnel who are still present at the plant. . which fell into the hands of Russian soldiers in March.
Zelensky calls for the demilitarization of the site
This Thursday, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, criticized the IAEA for having hidden the issue of the “demilitarization” of this site. “The main thing that should happen is the demilitarization of the territory of the plant (…) And it is unfortunate that we have not yet heard the corresponding messages from the IAEA,” he said.
And this “although we discussed it with Mr. Grossi during our meeting (Tuesday) in Kyiv. It was the key, the key! The security point of our agreements: demilitarization and total control by our nuclear workers” of this complex said. hammered
In the Ukrainian capital, the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for his part called for the interruption of all military operations around these facilities, warning that an attack would be “catastrophic”.
One of the two reactors in operation at the plant has been stopped for this reason due to Russian attacks, the Ukrainian operator Energoatom lamented on Thursday. On the same day, the Ukrainian authorities claimed that Russia was carrying out artillery fire on Energodar, the city where the Zaporizhia atomic complex is located, and on the road that the IAEA inspectors had to take to get there.
Source: BFM TV
