The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, received this Tuesday in Kyiv the mission of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), headed by its director, the Argentine Rafael Grossi, who is heading to the nuclear power plant of Zaporizhia.
“The arrival of the IAEA mission in Ukraine is a fundamental issue for the security of Ukraine and the world,” said the Ukrainian president, in a video broadcast by the Presidency in which appears next to Grossi. Zelensky insisted that the main objective should be the “demilitarization” of the plant, the largest in Europe and occupied by Russian troops since last March.
“We want the mission to reach the plant and do everything possible to avoid the dangers” of a possible nuclear disaster, added the head of state about the plant, the target of bombing in recent weeks of which Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other. Zelensky assured that the only way to exclude dangers in the control of the plant is for it to be “transferred to the Ukrainian state”.
Cross the front
Zelensky, who has been calling for the presence of an IAEA mission at the plant’s facilities for weeks, insisted on the need for “all Russian soldiers with all their explosives and all their weapons.” The mission of the international organization is made up of 14 members, who must travel from Kyiv to the Zaporizhia region, which implies crossing the front, in part under Russian control.
Zaporizhia is one of the four nuclear power plants operating in Ukraine, and the largest in Europe with its six reactors, each equipped with a capacity of 1.000 megawatts. The plant has been occupied by Russian troops since the beginning of March, shortly after Moscow invaded Ukraine. Last week, the plant was briefly disconnected from the power grid for the first time in its history, after several supply lines were damaged.