Ukraine’s presidential advisor finds it strange IAEA visit to ZNPP too short

OLENA ROSHCHINA – THURSDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2022, 20:39

Mykhailo Podoliak, Adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, believes that the two and a half hours that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission spent at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) on 1 September were not sufficient for the IAEA inspectors to assess the situation at the power plant to the full extent.

Source: Mykhailo Podoliak on air during the 24/7 national joint newscast

Quote from Podoliak: "I think this seems rather odd. The Ukrainian side believes that a mission of this level – and this is first of all a mission of engineers, nuclear physics specialists – which has arrived not just to inspect the canteen or certain rooms, but a mission which has certain procedures in place to inspect the mechanisms of control and management of the complex infrastructure of a nuclear power plant…

[The mission was there to inspect] whether there are any threats to nuclear and radiation safety. So it’s peculiar [that it remained there for] only two hours.

But the IAEA says that several of its members will remain [at the ZNPP] permanently. We’ll see.

And still, two hours, especially when the Russians are constantly in their way, telling them that something struck [the plant] here, an apple had fallen there. I think that the two and a half hours that all of the [IAEA team members] spent at the power plant were only enough for them to hear the Rosatom representative’s curious tales. Not much else."

Details: Podoliak added that it is worth waiting for the IAEA’s official report.

He also noted that the Russian forces are "disguising" their attacks on the power plant and, moreover, are deliberately trying to make the IAEA inspectors feel unsafe there in order to affect their reactions [and perceptions of the situation at the ZNPP - ed].

"Today they deployed helicopters to carry out an airstrike on [the city of] Enerhodar and then fabricated a story about a landing party of some sort, about some saboteurs, in order to disguise these attacks. This was another exercise in [applying] psychological pressure," Podoliak said.

He noted that several Russian journalists were present at the ZNPP during the IAEA visit; if Russia was so concerned about Ukrainian attacks on the ZNPP, it should not have sent those journalists there, he said. He added that what the Russian occupiers called the remnants of Ukrainian shells were just "part of the set".

Background: It took a long time to arrange the IAEA mission’s visit to the ZNPP because the Russian occupiers controlling the station had at first refused to issue special passes to the IAEA team. The team of 14 experts eventually arrived at the ZNPP on 1 September; the majority of them left several hours after that, leaving five inspectors behind.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Become our patron, support our work!