News / Russia

Zaporizhzhia inspection to last ‘a few days’, says UN nuclear agency

Wednesday, 31 August 2022 5:42 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 31 August 2022 5:46 PM ]

A Russian soldier is seen in an area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in southeastern Ukraine, May 1, 2022. (File photo by AP)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says its mission to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-controlled territory of southeastern Ukraine will last “a few days.”

The IAEA inspectors arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday. They were likely to spend the night there before visiting the plant on Thursday.

“The mission will take a few days. If we are able to establish a permanent presence or a continued presence, then it’s going to be prolonged. But this first segment is going to take a few days,” Rafael Grossi, the head of the agency, told reporters at a hotel in Zaporizhzhia.

“We have a very important task there to perform – to assess the real situation there, to help stabilize the situation as much as we can.” He said the team had guarantees from Russia and Ukraine for entering the war zone.

Russia’s representative to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov has said Moscow would welcome the establishment of a permanent mission.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the mission would spend four days at the plant. But on Wednesday, Russian-backed officials in the area near the power station suggested the IAEA would be given access for one day. They also said the mission would be expected to join the queue of civilians who cross back and forth between territory controlled by Ukraine and Russia.

Ukraine says it is targeting Russians shooting at, or from Zaporozhskaya nuclear plant

President Zelensky says Ukraine

Volodymyr Rogov, the Zaporizhzhia regional official appointed by the Russian government, wrote on Telegram, “The IAEA mission will stand in line to get to the liberated part of the Zaporizhzhia region. This is due to the fact that they will not be issued special passes.”

In recent weeks, Ukraine and Russia have been trading accusations for strikes targeting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine’s forces are targeting the Russian soldiers deployed to the nuclear plant.

Moscow has already raised the alarm over the fate of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station.

On August 5, Igor Vishnevetsky, a senior non-proliferation and arms control official at the Russian Foreign Ministry, warned the shelling of the plant risks triggering an event similar to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He made an appeal to the United Nations and the IAEA "as well as to the countries that have influence on the Kiev regime, so they would take action in order to make the shelling of the nuclear power plant stop immediately."

Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russia of using the plant as a military base to fire at Ukrainians. Russian troops took control of the plant in March.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk