Russian forces controlling the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant are preparing to connect the unit to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, damaging the facility while doing so, Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom warned this Tuesday, August 9.
“The Russian military at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant initiated the Rosatom project to connect the plant to the Crimean power grid,” Energoatom head Petro Kotin told Ukrainian television.
“To do this, first you need to damage the power lines of the plant, which is connected to the Ukrainian power system. From August 7 to 9, the Russians have already damaged three power lines. Now, the plant works with one production line. This is a very dangerous way of working,” he added. .
“When the last production line is disconnected, the plant will be powered by diesel-powered generators. Everything depends on its reliability and fuel availability,” he explained.
Located on the banks of the Dnieper River and near the town of Energodar, not far from the Crimean peninsula, the largest power plant in Europe is capable of powering four million homes in Ukraine, with six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors.
On March 4, days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the facilities came under the control of Russian troops.
Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of attacking the plant since Friday, but could not independently confirm the information.
However, these blasts are raising international alarm.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that any attack on a nuclear power plant in Japan would be a “suicide mission,” referring to the attack in Zaporizhia but not those responsible.
The Director General of the IAEA, Argentine diplomat Rafael Croci, expressed serious concern about the bombing of the nuclear plant and warned that it was “playing with fire” with the risk of a “nuclear catastrophe”.
Kiev and Moscow are calling for an international mission to send Zaporozhye to the nuclear power plant
Ukraine yesterday called Russia’s accusations “absolutely unjustified” after Kiev bombed the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the country’s southeast and called for a UN-led international mission to be sent by the end of August.
Speaking in Vienna, Ukrainian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, a UN body) Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk admitted that the situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, was “not favorable”. A “potential disaster”.
In contrast, Russia has promised to keep the IAEA informed of the situation at the nuclear power plant, which is now controlled by the Russian military and was the target of several attacks last Friday.
“We reflect the IAEA’s updated information ‘in situ’ and in the organization’s information circulars, which clearly reveal the criminal activities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, whose command has firmly lost the ability to think rationally,” the spokesman said. Voice of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova.
According to a spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, the Ukrainian army “lacks a basic sense of self-defense”.
“By pointing their cannons at operating nuclear reactors and storage of spent nuclear fuel, Ukrainians are shooting themselves in the foot,” he warned, noting that “the situation is getting more dangerous every day.”
From Vienna, the IAEA’s Ukrainian envoy pointed out that the latest attacks on Friday and Saturday had destroyed numerous monitoring sensors, so radiation levels could not be measured across the plant.
“We expect the arrival of an international mission led by the IAEA, but with experts from the UN and other countries. This mission is important, because experts must reach real results and only their presence will improve the safety level of the plant”, Simbaliuk continued.
After denouncing “Russian nuclear terrorism”, the ambassador also promised that Kiev would never interpret the presence of IAEA experts at the nuclear power plant as “legal recognition” of Russian occupation.
A Moscow diplomatic spokesman chose to welcome UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ statements in support of the IAEA’s efforts to “create conditions aimed at stabilizing the situation in Zaporizhia and allowing (the agency’s) central access”.
“We believe on the part of the UN that there is now no obstacle to organizing international work [da AIEA] to the Zaporizhia plant,” Zakharova added.
After the first Russian reports of attacks against the plant, the UN Moscow’s representative regretted the slowness.
*With Lusa and AFP
