Politics

IAEA experts en route to Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear plant in Ukraine

Lviv, Ukraine, Aug 31 (EFE).- A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency is on its way to the Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine to carry out an assessment of the complex after agreeing security guarantees from Moscow and Kyiv, the director general Rafael Grossi said Wednesday.

The nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, is under Russian occupation but operated by Ukrainian technicians. It sits on the southern bank of the Dnieper river where continued hostilities between Russia’s invading forces and Ukraine’s army have raised fears of a possible nuclear disaster.

“We are now finally moving. After six months of strenuous efforts, the IAEA is moving into the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant,” Grossi told reports in Kyiv a day after meeting with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“As you know we have a very, very important task there to perform to assess the real situation there, to help stabilize the situation as much as we can.

“We are going to a war zone, we are going to occupied territory, this requires the explicit guarantees not only from the Russian Federation but also from the Republic of Ukraine and we have been able to secure that,” he added.

The IAEA mission aims to establish a permanent representation at the nuclear plant, which Russia seized on March 4.

Moscow and Kyiv have previously accused each other of attacking the nuclear plant and its vicinity.

The United Nations, the United States and Ukraine have called on Russia to withdraw military equipment and personnel from the site. EFE

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