UNITED NATIONS, August 9. /TASS/. The UN Secretariat will continue assisting the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA)’s possible visit to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP), Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarric told TASS on Tuesday.
"UN secretariat has and will continue to assist IAEA in every way possible," the spokesman said.
During a briefing later in the day, Dujarric said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was making all possible efforts to organize a visit of IAEA inspectors to the nuclear power plant, and had already issued relevant instructions to all departments of his Secretariat.
"The Secretary-General, all the staff that works for him are committed to helping the IAEA. We have been so since the beginning, and we will continue to do so," he told reporters.
"If you listen to what the Secretary-General said in Japan, in his press conference, I don't think he could have been clearer. Anyone who says that, if anything would happen to that nuclear plant or be attacked, that would be suicidal is not going to stand in the way of a visit of the UN's own nuclear staff," the spokesman added.
The Kiev government forces have repeatedly launched strikes targeting the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe with six operating power units. On August 7, the Ukrainian military shelled the plant, targeting, in particular, the spent nuclear fuel repository. The military-civilian administration of Energodar where the nuclear power station is located, said that the Kiev regime had fired a 220mm Uragan rocket with a cluster warhead. Its striking elements damaged the station’s administrative buildings and the repository’s adjacent territory. Prior to that, the Ukrainian military bombarded the Zaporozhye NPP on August 5 and 6.
By now, the Kiev regime has lost control of over 70% of the Zaporozhye Region. Peaceful life is gradually returning to the region that is getting integrated into Russia’s legal and economic space while the local authorities have announced the intention to join Russia and hold a referendum on this issue in September. The Kiev regime is attempting to disrupt the region’s recovery and is bombarding civilian facilities in populated areas.