IAEA: There is a “real risk of nuclear catastrophe” if the bombing of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant continues

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Argentinean Rafael Grossi this Saturday was very concerned about the explosion that occurred yesterday at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the largest in the world. Europeunder Russian occupation in Ukraine, and warned that they were “playing with fire” and there was a risk of “nuclear catastrophe.”

“I am extremely concerned about yesterday’s bombing of the largest nuclear power plant in Europehighlighting the very real risk of a nuclear holocaust that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” Grossi warned in a statement released in Vienna.

After yesterday’s attack on a nuclear power plant in ZaporozhyeEurope’s largest condemned by pro-Russian authorities, Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of endangering the safety of a nuclear facility.

Grossi recalls that, according to the Ukrainian authorities, there was no damage to the reactors themselves or radioactive emissions, but there were damage to other parts of the plant.

“Playing with fire”

Head of the Atomic Energy Agency UN He considered it “completely unacceptable” to endanger the plant and assured that aiming any projectile there was “playing with fire” and could have “potentially catastrophic consequences.”

“I urge and strongly urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint in the vicinity of this important nuclear facility with its six reactors,” he demanded.

Grossi again suggested that IAEA carry out a verification mission on the ground and thereby “prevent the situation from getting further out of control.”

Director IAEA was ready to visit the Russian-controlled plant in June, but Ukraine fiercely criticized these plans, believing that the trip of a responsible person UN we can assume some kind of legitimization of the Russian occupation.

The Argentine diplomat insisted that the mission to stabilize the situation at the nuclear power plant was “decisive.”

Ukraine and Russia blame each other

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Russia in a video message, saying that “the occupiers have created another extremely dangerous situation for the whole of Europe: they bombed a nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye twice”.

Moscow, which controlled this facility almost from the first days of its military campaign in Ukrainequestioned these statements and, in turn, called Kyiv a supporter of “nuclear terrorism”.

“The attacks of Mr. Ukraine in relation to nuclear facilities can be qualified on the basis of international law as acts of nuclear terrorism,” said Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev in Telegram.

Pro-Russian authorities in the region Zaporozhyepartly occupied by the Russian army yesterday accused Ukrainian forces of attacking a nuclear power plant with artillery and damaging power lines and industrial buildings at the plant.

The attack resulted in the shutdown of one of the nuclear units after a power outage.

(As reported by EFE)

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