The mission will arrive on site “later this week,” according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
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“The day has come, the mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency to Zaporizhia is now on its way. We must protect the security of Ukraine and the largest power plant in Europe.” By posting this message on Twitter, the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, announced on Monday August 29 that he was on his way to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporijjia, taken by Russian troops in early March and targeted in recent weeks by strikes raising fears the risk of a major accident. He specified that the mission would arrive on the spot “later this week”.
Raphael Grossi had been asking for several months to be able to go to the scene, warning of the “real risk of nuclear catastrophe”. In a photo accompanying his message, the head of the IAEA poses with a team of ten people, wearing caps and vests with the logo of the UN body.
The day has come, @IAEAorg‘s Support and Assistance Mission to #Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) is now on its way. We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine‘s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility. Proud to lead this mission which will be in #ZNPP later this week. pic.twitter.com/tyVY7l4SrM
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) August 29, 2022
In recent weeks, Zaporijjia crystallizes the concerns of Westerners. While the UN has called for an end to all military activity in the vicinity, kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of carrying out bombardments near the complex, near the town of Energodar, on the Dnieper River, and thus putting the site in danger. The Ukrainian operator Energoatom warned on Saturday of the risk of radioactive leaks and fires after new strikes.
Between Thursday and Friday, the plant and its six reactors of 1,000 megawatts each were “totally disconnected” from the national grid due to damage to the power lines, according to kyiv, before being reconnected and restarted.
In front of this “dangerous” situation, President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged the UN nuclear police on Friday to send a team as soon as possible. Vladimir Putin meanwhile accepted the organization of a mission passing “by Ukraine” and not by Russia, which he previously demanded, the French presidency said in mid-August after a telephone interview by Emmanuel Macron with the Russian president.