EKO HOT BLOG reports that the United Nations chief has called for an immediate end to all military activity around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for renewed shelling.
Ukraine’s Energoatom agency said the Zaporizhzhia complex was struck five times on Thursday, including near where radioactive materials are stored.
Russian-appointed officials, meanwhile, said Ukraine shelled the plant twice, disrupting a shift changeover, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
In a statement ahead of a UN Security Council meeting called by Russia, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that any damage could lead to “catastrophic consequences” in the region and beyond.
“The facility must not be used as part of any military operation. Instead, urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarisation to ensure the safety of the area,” Guterres said in a atatement.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi, who said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that the situation at the plant was “completely out of control,” briefed the Security Council.
Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned that the situation was getting more perilous every day at Zaporizhzhia, located in the city of Enerhodar which Russian troops seized in early March, soon after their February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
While the plant is controlled by Russia, its Ukrainian staff continues to run the nuclear operations.
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