VIENNA, March 10. /TASS/. The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has voiced almost unanimous support for the initiative of the agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, to set up a protection zone near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov stated on Friday.

"The main result of consideration of nuclear security in Ukraine by the IAEA BoG [the Board of Governors] was significantly widening, almost consensual support of the initiative of Mr. [Rafael] Grossi regarding protection zone at the ZNPP (no attack against or from the plant)," Ulyanov wrote on his Twitter (outlawed in Russia) account.

On March 8, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the protection of the Zaporozhye NPP and security around the facility were "vital" and offered UN mediation to achieve "full demilitarization of the area, while ensuring that the plant can return to normal operations."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a March 9 press conference that an agreement to create a safety zone at the Zaporozhye NPP was close at hand, but the Ukrainian side blocked it.

The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, located in the city of Energodar, has a capacity of about 6 GW and is Europe’s largest. It has been controlled by Russian troops since late February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian army units have periodically shelled both residential areas in Energodar and the premises of the NPP itself, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.

An IAEA mission led by Director General Rafael Grossi traveled to the ZNPP in September 2022 and left several agency employees onsite as observers. Afterward, the agency published a report calling for the establishment of a safety zone around the ZNPP to prevent accidents arising from hostilities. The expert team at the ZNPP underwent its first rotation in October.

Grossi said on March 9 that the ZNPP had had its power supply fully cut off for the first time since November, and that it had enough diesel fuel for electric generators to last 15 days. He said eight out of 20 available generators were working to provide electricity to the plant, while others remain on standby.