KYIV | A disaster at the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant would have consequences beyond Ukraine, warned Kyiv, Vladimir Putin assuring for his part that the “fever of sanctions” Western would not succeed in isolating his country.
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Damage to the reactor core would have “consequences not only for Ukraine, but also, clearly, consequences beyond borders”, warned Wednesday Oleg Korikov, head of the Ukrainian nuclear safety agency.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporijjia, occupied for six months by Russian forces and whose site has been subjected to bombardments of which Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other, is at the center of serious concerns for its security.
In a report published on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for the establishment of a “safety zone” around the site, the situation of which has become “untenable”.
Last week, a team of 14 IAEA members visited the plant. Rafael Grossi, head of the UN agency, said the site had been damaged in the fighting.
The head of the Ukrainian public operator Energoatom, Petro Kotin, wished for his part on Wednesday that this plant be placed under the protection of a “peacekeeping contingent”.
But the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov demanded “clarifications” from the IAEA on this report, and Mr. Putin denied the agency’s assertions about the presence of military equipment on the site.
The Russian president has also launched a new charge against the West and their “fever of sanctions”, ensuring that they would not be able to “isolate Russia”.
The “peak” of the difficulties linked to these sanctions is “passed”, he assured in particular during an economic forum in Vladivostok (Russian Far East) on Wednesday.
Mr. Putin notably insisted on strengthening ties with Asia, China in particular, in the face of “the technological, financial and economic aggression of the West”.
He also denied using Russian hydrocarbon exports as a “weapon” to put pressure on the Europeans.
“Humanitarian catastrophe”
But he at the same time threatened to no longer deliver oil or gas to countries that would cap the price of deliveries from Russia, a measure proposed on Wednesday by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
In Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholtz, whose country is highly dependent on Russian gas, said Germany would get through the winter “with courage and bravery” despite the risk of shortages.
Mr. Putin has also turned against the Westerners the accusations that the conflict in Ukraine and its agricultural consequences allow Moscow to pressure developing countries according to Ukrainian wheat.
According to him, the vast majority of Ukrainian cereals, whose exports have just resumed, go to European countries and not to poor countries, which poses a risk of “humanitarian catastrophe”.
And in Ukraine, civilians are already preparing for a winter made even harsher by the prolonged fighting and the lack of gas for heating.
“We are going to regroup to warm up (…) and come what may”, philosopher Oleksandre Matviïevski, a resident of Kramatorsk, 25 km from the front, chainsaw in hand.
Others are turning a deaf ear to urgent calls from the authorities to evacuate the region.
“We’re all going to die here together. A grave for all. But we are strong, we are holding on, ”says Olga, 60, who did not wish to give her name.
In Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen also proposed that the EU provide financial aid of 5 billion euros to help Ukraine, the second tranche of a maximum package of 9 billion for 2022.
This aid will still have to be approved by the 27 member countries of the EU, which have planned to discuss it on Friday at a meeting of finance ministers in Prague.