BERLIN, July 2. /TASS/. The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant’s (ZNPP) security must be ensured regardless of the combat operations in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday.

"It was very important that first I and Chinese President Xi Jinping and them G20 countries in general stated very clearly that nuclear weapons must not be used. This [the destruction of the ZNPP] must not be allowed. The plant’s security must be ensured regardless of the war. The International Atomic Energy Agency says this and all states of the global community have been stressing this," he said in an interview with the ARD television channel.

Located in the city of Energodar, the Zaporozhye NPP is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and has six power units with an aggregate capacity of 6 GW. Russian forces took control of the facility in February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian troops have been periodically shelling both Energodar’s residential quarters and the plant’s territory, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.

Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council on June 23 that Russia was alarmed over Kiev’s allegations about mines planted by Russia at the Zaporizhye NPP. He noted that the Grossi-led IAEA mission that had recently visited the facility could see the absurdity "of the Kiev regime chiefs’ paranoid allegations.".