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Russia to seek UN assessment of situation around Zaporozhye nuclear power plant — diplomat

Polyansky said that UN representatives "are now actively trying to show that they are involved and have a role to play"

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Moscow plans to press the UN for a more unequivocal assessment of the situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said on Rossiya-1 television on Wednesday.

He said that UN representatives "are now actively trying to show that they are involved and have a role to play."

"It’s hard to say what the consequences of [UN Secretary-General Antonio] Guterres' visit to Ukraine will be," Polyansky continued. "We were ready to assist the IAEA with visit to the ZNPP back in June. It failed through no fault of ours. The Ukrainian side and the UN Secretariat had doubts and concerns, which the UN is now trying to deny, but we know the truth. I don't see any problems with going to the Zaporozhye NPP. This all looks like some trickery, and we will continue to fight this, to bring the UN to some more unequivocal assessments of what is happening. "

The diplomat said that UN representatives and Western partners have so far avoided unequivocally saying that the threat to the ZNPP is created by shelling by the Ukrainian side.

"All this is packaged into generalities such as that the station is under threat because of the actions that Russia is committing," Polyansky said.

The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, located in the city of Energodar, is controlled by Russian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense said Ukrainian forces have inflicted several strikes on the territory of the station in recent days, using, in particular, drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. In most cases, the attacks are repelled by air defense systems, but some shells hit the infrastructure and the area of the nuclear waste repository, which raises the risk of radiation leaks.

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