MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Despite Kiev’s pressure, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remains an independent source of information about the situation at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the plant’s director Yury Chernichuk said on Friday.
"The international mission under the UN aegis remains, in my view, the only independent source of information about the situation at the NPP for the entire international community," he told Russia’s Channel One.
Chernichuk stressed that IAEA reports issued after Director-General Rafael Grossi’s visits to the plant contained no military-themed comments or claims related to Russia’s use of the ZNPP.
Despite the Kiev government’s continuous pressure, "more than 170 IAEA reports <…> about events at the Zaproozhye NPP contain only unbiased and true information," about events at the station, the nuclear official added.
Located in the city of Energodar, the Zaporozhye NPP is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and has six power units with an aggregate capacity of 6 GW. Russian forces took control of the facility in February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian troops have been periodically shelling both Energodar’s residential quarters and the plant’s territory, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.
The IAEA chief visited the Zaporozhye NPP for the first time on September 1, 2022. Following his visit, the IAEA established its presence at the facility, rotating its inspectors approximately every month. A total of eight rotations have taken place to date. Grossi’s second visit took place on March 29, 2023.