Vladimir Putin on Friday accepted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) send a mission to Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, saying he fears that the bombings could end up causing a “catastrophe of great scale”.
At the same time, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, visiting Ukraine, asked Russia not to cut off from the Ukrainian network this power station that its army has occupied since the beginning of March, which has become the target of strikes of which Moscow and kyiv accuse each other.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian power plant operator Energoatom said it feared such a scenario, saying the Russian military was looking for supplies for diesel generators that would be activated after the reactors were shut down and had limited the staff access to facilities.
“Of course, Zaporizhia’s electricity is Ukrainian electricity. […] this principle must be fully respected, ”said Mr. Guterres on the sidelines of a trip to Odessa, the major Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, after having been the day before in Lviv, in western Ukraine.
An IAEA mission “as soon as possible”
“The systematic bombardment […] the territory of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant creates the danger of a large-scale disaster which could lead to the radioactive contamination of vast territories,” the Russian president warned on Friday during a telephone conversation with his French counterpart.
MM. Putin and Macron “raised the importance of sending a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the nuclear power plant as soon as possible, which will be able to assess the situation on the spot”, informed the Kremlin, stressing that “the Russian side has confirmed that it is ready to provide all necessary assistance to the inspectors” of the IAEA.
Vladimir Putin has also accepted that these pass “through Ukraine” and not through Russia, which he previously demanded, said the French presidency.
In a statement, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi “welcomed recent statements that Ukraine and Russia support the IAEA’s goal of sending a mission” to the Zaporizhia plant. , in the south.
“In this highly volatile and fragile situation, it is vitally important that no further action is taken which could further endanger […] one of the largest nuclear power plants in the world,” insisted the head of the IAEA.
A diplomat explained the same day to AFP that Westerners were mainly worried about maintaining the water cooling of nuclear reactors, more than the impact of a shot, because they are designed “to withstand” the “worst “.
The day before in Lviv, where he met the Ukrainian presidents, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the Turkish presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mr. Guterres had estimated that “any potential damage in Zaporijjia would be suicide” and urged to “demilitarize the plant”.
On Friday, it was the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, who called on the Russians to “withdraw” from this site and to “immediately return full control to its legitimate owner, Ukraine”, while Mr. Macron denounced the “brutal attack” launched on February 24 against Ukraine.
New stoppage of gas deliveries
Mr. Guterres’ visit was marked by another topic: Ukrainian grain exports. Blocked after the Russian invasion, they resumed following the conclusion in July of an agreement between Moscow and kyiv.
Mr. Guterres promised on Thursday that the UN would try to “intensify” these exports before the arrival of winter.
Russia, which is demanding in exchange the lifting of restrictions on its own foreign sales of agricultural products and fertilizers, affected by Western sanctions, deplores for its part “the obstacles which remain”, to use the terms that used Mr Putin on Friday.
France also immediately rejected these allegations, judging that there is on the part of Moscow “a desire to politically exploit this question”.
At the same time, the giant Gazprom warned that deliveries of Russian gas to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline would be interrupted from August 31 to September 2 for “maintenance” reasons, at the risk of rekindling fears of a shortage in Europe. , where Russia is accused of energy blackmail.
“Significant weakening”
Regarding military operations in Ukraine, the Pentagon, which on Friday announced a new tranche of military aid amounting to $775 million to that country, noted a “total lack of progress on the battlefield” of the troops. Russians.
“We have not seen any recapture of territories” by Ukrainian forces, “but we have seen a clear weakening of Russian positions in several places,” said an official from the US Department of Defense.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian shelling continued on Friday, killing at least five people and wounding ten in several localities in the Donetsk region, one of the two provinces of Donbass.
Kharkiv (north-east), the second largest city in Ukraine, has also been the subject of new strikes whose toll is at least one dead.