Russian official: IAEA cannot admit Ukraine behind ZNPP shelling

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Sep 2022 22:27

It is unclear yet why the IAEA hasn't held Ukraine responsible for shelling the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. But the UN watchdog's idea of establishing a security zone is something worth consideration, according to Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov.

Russian servicemen guard an area of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Station, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world in Energodar, Zaporozhye region, in territory under Russian military control, May 1, 2022 (AP Photo, File)

Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Wednesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts can not admit that Kiev is responsible for shelling the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP).

"The main flaw of the document is that the agency is completely moving away from naming those responsible for the threats to nuclear safety at this plant. Although, of course, the IAEA employees, after visiting this station, now they have two people left there, they should know very well that the Ukrainians are firing, but apparently the agency cannot afford to say this out loud," Ulyanov told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

Commenting on the recent solution proposed by the IAEA about creating the security zone around the power plant, Ulyanov said it is not concrete but its direction deserves attention.

"I have the impression that this idea is still not concrete, raw, but its vector seems worthy of attention. In his report, in the last paragraph, the [IAEA] director general said that interim measures are needed to reduce the nuclear threat. And this idea - the zone of protection of operational and nuclear safety at the ZNPP - is just an attempt to find some more substantive steps in terms of strengthening nuclear safety at this facility," Ulyanov told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

On September 6, Kiev's forces initiated an offense on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant causing a temporary power outage as well as instability in the water supply.

Authorities reported in a statement that a total of seven shells had hit the area of a training building on the NPP premises, one of which had caused a leak of fuel oil from a tank at a water delivery line at the ZNPP.

In light of these events, the IAEA said on Tuesday that it would issue an immediate report about the findings of the agency's mission to the ZNPP.

In that report, the IAEA called for the urgent establishment of a security zone at the power plant and its vicinities.

Moscow later criticized the IAEA for not naming the source of the shelling at ZNPP and demanded clarifications regarding its report.

Energodar and the Zaporozhye plant have been under Russian control since early March and had operated without interruption until July when drone and artillery assaults began. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, 29 strikes on the Zaporozhye complex have taken place since July 18, including 120 artillery shells and 16 kamikaze drones.