MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. The authorities of Zaporozhye are ready to receive UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the IAEA mission, ensure their safety and present the evidence of the bombardments of the Zaporozhye NPP by Ukraine’s armed forces, Head of the regional Military-Civilian Administration Yevgeny Balitsky told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Thursday.
"We are completely ready to host both Guterres and the IAEA, nowadays, we are ready to receive everybody who will come and ensure [their] safety," he said.
The official also noted that the Zaporozhye authorities were ready to "provide safe armored vehicles, access, provide all the necessary documents, show the shells that were dropped on us." "It will be very easy to determine whose shells are those down to [their serial] numbers <…>. We will provide all the documents and show how the nuclear station is functioning now," he added.
As earlier reported, on Thursday, Ukraine’s armed forces conducted a massive shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP and the city of Energodar for the second time in one day. Previously, Russian air defense systems deflected all Ukrainian attacks with strike drones and heavy artillery on the city and the NPP overnight and on Thursday morning. Since early August, the Ukrainian army attempted to strike the NPP’s premises and the city at least five times. On August 5, the Ukrainian armed forces shelled a railway station three times, on August 6, they bombarded the NPP’s healthcare facility and a water supply facility in Energodar, and on August 7, another strike on the NPP hit the area where a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel was located.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky confirmed that a session of the UN Security Council dedicated to the situation around the Zaporozhye NPP would be held on August 11. A report by Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi is expected.
The Zaporozhye nuclear plant is the largest one in Europe. The facility used to produce one-quarter of all of Ukraine’s electricity. Its total capacity is about 6,000 Megawatts, and it includes six reactors. Right now, the plant operates at 70% of its full capacity, due to the overproduction of power in the Zaporozhye Region. In the future, it is supposed to supply power to Crimea.