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Military operation in Ukraine

Russia wants IAEA to have objective picture of situation at Zaporozhye NPP — diplomat

Russia is ready to assist the IAEA in organizing an international mission to Zaporozhskaya NPP, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said

VIENNA, August 10. /TASS/. Russia wants the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to have a full and objective picture of the current situation on the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP), and is ready to assist in organizing an international mission to the facility, a senior Russian diplomat has said.

"Russia is ready to assist the IAEA in organizing an international mission to Zaporozhskaya NPP. We are interested in the IAEA having the most complete and objective picture of the situation there, especially in the light of stupid assertions that Russians shell themselves at the plant," Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter on Tuesday.

The diplomat went on to say that an IAEA-led mission to the plant was agreed in June with full support of Russia.

"Unfortunately at the very last moment the Department of Security of the UN Secretariat blocked the mission. We hope that the UN Secretary General will not allow this to happen again," Ulyanov wrote.

The Kiev government forces have repeatedly launched strikes targeting the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe with six operating reactors. On August 7, the Ukrainian military shelled the plant, targeting, in particular, the spent nuclear fuel repository. The military-civilian administration of Energodar where the nuclear power station is located, said that the Kiev regime had fired a 220mm Uragan rocket with a cluster warhead. Its striking elements damaged the station’s administrative buildings and the repository’s adjacent territory. Prior to that, the Ukrainian military bombarded the Zaporozhye NPP on August 5 and 6.

In March 2022, the Zaporozhye NPP was placed under the Russian army’s control. Currently, the NPP operates at 70% capacity as the area of the Zaporozhye Region liberated from the Ukrainian army has a surplus of electricity power. There are plans to direct part of electricity generated at the Zaporozhye NPP to Crimea.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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