UN ready to support IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhia NPP with consent of Ukraine and Russia

"The Secretary-General made it clear in Tokyo that any attack on a nuclear power plant is 'suicidal'," Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told journalists on Monday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports from New York.

He also refuted the false narratives of Russian officials who do not allow the IAEA mission to visit the facility, blaming the UN for this.

"Over the past few days, there have been repeated comments by various Russian officials who accuse the UN Secretariat of either canceling or blocking the visit of the IAEA mission to the ZNPP," said Dujarric.

First, the IAEA is a specialized agency that acts independently, making decisions related to its competence, he noted.

Second, the UN Secretariat does not have the authority to block or cancel any activity of the IAEA.

Third, "in close contact with the IAEA, the UN Secretariat has assessed that Ukraine has the potential for logistics and security" to organize a visit of IAEA monitors to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from Kyiv "if both countries agree to this," added the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General.

As reported, since August 5, the Russians have been regularly shelling the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Three radiation monitoring sensors around the ZNPP spent fuel storage were damaged with enemy rocket fire. Therefore, timely detection and response in case of deterioration of the radiation situation or radiation leakage from spent nuclear fuel containers is currently impossible. On August 6, Ukrainian intelligence confirmed that the Russian army had mined the power units of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

The Zaporizhzhia NPP was captured by Russian troops on March 4. There are 500 Russian military personnel in the plant’s territory.

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