Zelenskyy meets IAEA Director General and leader of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant mission

EUROPEAN PRAVDA – TUESDAY, 30 AUGUST 2022, 19:25

On Tuesday, 30 August, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine met with Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and other members of the organisation’s mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

Source: European Pravda, quoting Interfax Ukraine news agency

Details: During the meeting, President Zelenskyy said that the IAEA mission’s visit to the ZNPP is in Ukraine’s interest and stressed that the power plant must be completely demilitarised.

"We want the IAEA mission led by Director [General Rafael] Grossi to be able to get to the [ZNPP] with the help of our special services and security corridors, and [once there] to do everything within their power to prevent global threats," Zelenskyy said.

He stressed the importance of "urgent demilitarisation of the [ZNPP]; withdrawal of all Russian military personnel and their weapons and explosives; liberation of our power plant; creation of a demilitarised zone; and the transfer of control over [ZNPP] to Ukraine."

Previously: A team of international nuclear inspectors from the IAEA arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, 30 August. Fourteen experts led by the IAEA director general were supposed to embark on the journey to the ZNPP later this week, but it remains unclear whether this will be possible.

Background: The ZNPP appeared to be in the spotlight of global attention in early August when the Russian forces first opened fire on the power plant. Russia has rejected calls to demilitarise the ZNPP and claimed that it had a duty to "protect" it from provocations; it has accused Ukraine of carrying out the attacks on the ZNPP.

The United Nations had agreed to facilitate the IAEA inspectors’ visit to the ZNPP via Kyiv, but Russia insisted that the mission must not travel through Ukraine’s capital.

On 23 August, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister confirmed, in a conversation with his French counterpart Katherine Colonna, that his government had finally approved the visit of the IAEA mission to the ZNPP.

On 25 August, the ZNPP was completely disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid, for the first time in history. On 29 August, Maxar Technologies company published satellite images, which seem to show four large holes in the ZNPP’s roof.

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