IAEA urgently heading to ZNPP: a nuclear threat exists due to the explosion at Kakhovka HPP
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has urgently arrived in Ukraine to visit the Zaporizhzhia NPP, occupied by Russian military forces.
He noted his plans to meet with the President of Ukraine, to present a support program for the country to overcome the aftermath of the Russian-initiated explosion of the Kakhovka dam, and to assess the implications of this act of terror for the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
Grossi announced this on Twitter.
According to Grossi, he presented to Volodymyr Zelensky a support program for Ukraine, "based on nuclear technologies in the fields of human health, food safety and drinking water, animal health, soil and water resources management, as well as in assessing the state of critical infrastructure after flooding."
During the meeting, concrete steps were discussed to minimise risks and prevent incidents at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, as well as methods of interaction with the IAEA to achieve this.
Volodymyr Zelensky supported Rafael Grossi's proposal to send a team of IAEA experts to Ukraine to assess the aftermath of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station explosion and to prepare proposals on specific areas of assistance to overcome it. He emphasised that full assistance would be provided to this mission from relevant Ukrainian institutions.
The head of state pointed out that as a result of Russia's deliberate explosion of the Kakhovka dam - the largest act of ecocide of our times - the risks to the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have significantly increased. Therefore, a swift and decisive reaction from the international community to this brazen act of terror is extremely necessary.
The President of Ukraine positively noted the presence of agency inspectors at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which was unlawfully occupied by Russian Federation military, and welcomed Rafael Grossi's intention to personally visit the nuclear station in Zaporizhzhia to assess the situation on the ground.
Zelensky repeatedly stressed that the only way to prevent a nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP is its complete demilitarisation, de-occupation from Russian terrorists and Ukraine's restoration of control over the station.
Remember, Russian occupiers detonated the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station in Kherson Region in Ukraine on the night of June 6. The destruction of the large Dnipro dam led to the flooding of numerous settlements and became the largest man-made disaster in Europe in decades.