Ukraine rejects IAEA visit to occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Kyiv, Jun 7 (EFE).- Ukraine rejected on Tuesday the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) plans to send a mission to the Russian-held Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The plant can only be visited once it will be recovered by Ukrainian troops, the state-run nuclear power company Energoatom said on Telegram, accusing the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi of lying when saying the mission had been an invitation by Kyiv.

The IAEA director general announced on Monday an expert mission to the Zaporizhzhia plant after it lost contact with the plant under Russian occupation, Energoatom added.

“We consider this message from the head of the IAEA as another attempt to get to ZNPP by all means and to legitimize the occupiers and approve their actions,” the firm said.

“It is very likely that the Russian side, with the prior consent of the IAEA, made sure that the Agency ‘lost control’ without access to this information, and therefore the IAEA Director General would have a reason to come to the power plant,” the statement added.

Grossi explained on Monday that the Ukrainian regulator confirmed it has lost control over the nuclear facility that is “subject to the Safeguards Agreement between Ukraine and the IAEA.”

The six-reactor plant has been under Russian control since the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24. EFE

int-cph/ta/mp