Any attack on nuclear plant ‘suicidal,’ warns Guterres

Tokyo, Aug 8 (EFE).- Any attack on a nuclear power plant would be “suicidal,” warned United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday following the weekend’s shelling of the largest atomic plant in Europe.

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of carrying out the attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since the early days of its war.

“Any attack to a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing. I hope that those attacks will end,” Guterres said during a news conference at the National Press Club in Tokyo, Japan.

“This is the moment when the risk of a nuclear confrontation is back – something that we have forgotten for decades. This is the moment, as I said, to ask the nuclear armed countries to commit to the principal of no first use (…) This would be the destruction of the planet. If nobody uses for the first time, there will be no nuclear war,” Guterres said.

The official arrived in Japan for the 77th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 and participated in a ceremony held in the city, where he also warned about the risk of nuclear proliferation.

When asked about the UN’s position on a possible nuclear attack on Monday, he said that “if nuclear weapons will be used there is probably no UN able to respond (…) we might all not be here anymore.”

Guterres also gave his support to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its efforts to gain access to Zaporizhzhia and stabilize the situation.

The director of the IAEA, the Argentinian Rafael Grossi, was willing in June to visit the plant under Russian control, but Ukraine vehemently criticized the move, considering that the trip could legitimize the Russian occupation.

On Saturday, Grossi warned of “the very real risk of a nuclear disaster” at Zaporizhzhia. EFE

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