Grossi on Russian attacks against Ukrainian substations: IAEA will monitor situation more closely

The International Atomic Energy Agency will closely monitor the situation around electrical substations that are vital to the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, which were earlier hit by Russian missile strikes.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said this at a press conference in Vienna on Monday, answering a question from an Ukrinform correspondent.

When asked whether he had discussed with Russia the issue of strikes against these objects, Grossi said that following his recent visit to Kyiv and conversations with President Volodymyr Zelensky, the IAEA team was now cooperating more closely, looking more closely at the substations that are critically important for the external power supply of the three operating nuclear power plants.

He emphasized that nuclear power plants could not be military targets.

During a massive attack against Ukraine on August 26, Russia for the first time fired dozens of missiles with cluster munitions at Ukrainian distribution substations.

Russian airstrikes targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure caused significant fluctuations in energy supply and led to a temporary halt or shutdown of reactors at the Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs. This also affected the energy supply situation at the Khmelnytskyi NPP and the Chornobyl station.

Viktoria Kuvshynnykova, Ukraine's Acting Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, said that Russian missile strikes against electrical substations that are essential for the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants were the result of the Kremlin's deliberate decision to threaten the world with a nuclear disaster without direct attacks on nuclear power plants.