Grossi before UN Security Council: “We are playing with fire”

IAEA chief Grossi presented his report on the visit to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Zaporizhia to the UN Security Council. He clearly warned of a catastrophe and called for a protection zone around the nuclear reactor.

After his trip to the contested Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Zaporizhia, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, sounded the alarm before the Security Council. Grossi presented his report in New York and warned urgently: “We are playing with fire and something very, very catastrophic could happen!”

After the first sightings, the team of experts from the Atomic Energy Agency called for the establishment of a security zone around the factory premises. Shelling the nuclear facility is extremely dangerous, Grossi said. “The attacks – whether intentional or not, the impacts on this facility, the traces of which my team and I could see personally, are unacceptable.”

Grossi: The military should withdraw

Grossi did not address either side directly. Nor did the chief of nuclear inspectors mention Russia or Ukraine when he denounced military vehicles and equipment in the turbine halls and between the reactor blocks of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

“Our recommendation is that these military vehicles and equipment are removed from these buildings. So that they do not compromise the security system.” The external power supply must also be ensured in order to ensure, among other things, the cooling of the reactors.

Grossi also described the extremely stressful conditions under which Ukrainian nuclear personnel work – under the control of Russian soldiers.

More mutual accusations

Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensia, dismissed such allegations. Grossi does not name those responsible for the bombings. For weeks, both Russia and Ukraine have been responsible for attacks on the power plant. Kyiv’s UN Ambassador Sergey Kislitsa reiterated that the only way to keep the power plant working safely is for Russian soldiers to withdraw.

Deputy German Ambassador Thomas Zahneisen, who attended the meeting as a guest, also said there was no doubt who was responsible for the unsafe situation. “It is the Russian Federation that has attacked Ukraine and occupied parts of the country – including the Zaporizhia power plant.”

Without Russian aggression, there would be no discussion about the lack of nuclear safety, the ambassador said. “There would be no risk of a nuclear accident with consequences reaching far beyond Ukraine.”

Guterres also calls for a safety zone

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had previously underlined the demands of the nuclear inspectors. He urged both warring parties to agree on a non-combat zone around the endangered nuclear power plant. The facility and its surroundings should not be a target for military operations. Russian and Ukrainian armed forces would have to undertake not to launch any military activities towards or from the factory premises.