MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. Ukraine is not observing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) principles for ensuring nuclear safety under the conditions of an armed conflict as well as recommendations for ensuring security at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, said in an interview with TASS.

The diplomat noted that Ukrainian attempts to seize control of the nuclear facility are well-known. "One of them took place right before IAEA Director General [Rafael] Grossi’s visit to the plant on September 1, 2022," he added.

"These days, Ukraine is not observing the seven principles for ensuring nuclear and physical safety during an armed conflict formulated by Grossi as well as the five recommendations for ensuring security at the Zaporozhye NPP," the diplomat noted. "We condemn such actions by Kiev and urge Western countries not to turn a blind eye to its dangerous games [that constitute playing] with fire, nuclear fire," he added.

According to Polishchuk, given how Western countries continue to arm Ukraine while their representatives "play buddy-buddy with Kiev officials" and shirk the [moral responsibility to] condemn the terrorist acts committed by the Ukrainian army, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has gotten the impression that, "any actions of his will remain unpunished and maybe even [will be] approved."

"Nevertheless, all the attempts to capture the Zaporozhye NPP have been effectively repelled by Russia’s Armed Forces. We have informed the IAEA director general about this," the diplomat added.

On situation around ZNPP

Located in Energodar, the Zaporozhye nuclear facility, with roughly 6GW of capacity, is the largest of its kind in Europe. Russia took control of the plant on February 28, 2022, in the first days of its special military operation in Ukraine. Since then, units of the Ukrainian army have periodically conducted shelling both of residential districts in nearby Energodar and the premises of the nuclear plant itself, by means of drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). In most cases, air defense systems repel the attacks, although several times shells hit infrastructure facilities and the vicinity of a nuclear waste storage depot. In order to protect the ZNPP against shelling attacks, engineering structures, forming a safety net of sorts, have been built on its premises.