Little progress on safety zone around ZNPP, IAEA head says
Zaporizhzhya NPP was seized by Russian occupants after fighting in Enerhodar on March 4 (Photo:REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that he was “very disappointed” with the pace of establishing a security zone around Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), CNN reported on Oct. 28.
During a Carnegie Endowment event in Washington, D.C., Grossi said the process of creating a safety zone around Ukraine’s ZNPP was too slow, leaving him “very disappointed.”
“For me, (the need for) establishing a protection zone around a nuclear power plant is as self-evident as anything can be,” Grossi said.
“How can you shell a nuclear power plant, for God’s sake?”
Zaporizhzhia NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and has been occupied by Russian forces since March 4. Several ZNPP facilities have been damaged by Russian shelling, and the station's employees are captives of the occupying troops.
Russian troops have set up firing positions at the territory of the ZNPP and are shelling Ukrainian cities from there. Energoatom reported that the Russian military placed at least 14 units of heavy military vehicles, loaded with ammunition, weapons and explosives in one of the turbine halls at ZNPP.
IAEA has since established a permanent monitoring presence at the facility, and called for a demilitarized safety zone to be established around the plant.
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