UNITED NATIONS, February 11. /TASS/ The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) lacks the courage to acknowledge that Ukraine is the sole source of security threats to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), said Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky.
"The IAEA lacks the courage to call a spade a spade and point out the undeniable fact that <…> Ukraine remains the only source of security threats to the ZNPP as it routinely targets the nuclear facility and its critical infrastructure, as well as the satellite city of Energodar, home to ZNPP employees and their families, and even attacked a convoy [facilitating the rotation of] IAEA inspectors in December 2024," the diplomat stated.
Following a meeting with Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev on February 7, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi confirmed continued support for ZNPP staff to ensure the stable and secure operation of the power plant. At that time, he remarked that attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear plant have become more frequent and that the security situation there remains unstable.
The Zaporozhye NPP, located in Energodar, has six power units with a total capacity of 6 GW. It is Europe’s largest nuclear power generation facility. At the end of February 2022, the facility was seized by Russian forces. Since then, Ukrainian army units have periodically targeted both residential areas in Energodar and the plant itself using drones, heavy artillery, and multiple rocket launchers. All six units of the plant are in cold shutdown and are not generating electricity. Since September 2022, an IAEA mission, serving on a rotational basis, has been stationed at the facility.