UN, August 19. /TASS/. The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP) in Ukraine, needs to be demilitarized, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.
"First of all, what is true is that if it is demilitarized as we propose, the plant, the problem will be solved," the UN chief’s press office quoted him as saying to journalists upon a visit to the city of Odessa.
"Obviously, the electricity from Zaporozhye [NPP] is Ukrainian electricity, and it's necessary, especially during the winter for the Ukrainian people, and this principle must be fully respected," he added.
Guterres arrived earlier in the day in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, where he is scheduled to hold talks on grain exports with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Zaporozhye NPP is under the control of the Russian army. Over the last few days, the Kiev regime has delivered numerous strikes against the station’s territory, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. In most cases, the attacks are repelled by Russian air defense systems. However, some rockets hit the NPP’s infrastructural facilities, including nuclear waste storage sites.
The Zaporozhye NPP is the largest in Europe. It consists of six power units and has a capacity of about 6,000 MW. It used to generate a quarter of all electric power in Ukraine.
Currently, the NPP operates at 70% capacity as the area of the Zaporozhye Region liberated from the Ukrainian army has a surplus of electricity power.
Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine
The situation along the line of engagement in Donbass escalated on February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardments by the Ukrainian military in recent months, which damaged civilian infrastructure and caused civilian casualties.
On February 21, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Moscow recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.
Russian President Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance, he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.
The DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.