“We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident” in Zaporizhia, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned on Monday.According to Rafael Grossi, it is “impossible” to know who is responsible for the recent attacks on the site.Follow the latest information.
Follow the full coverage
Zaporizhia: the Ukrainian nuclear power plant crystallizes tensions
The alert is serious. According to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), “we are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident” on the Zaporizhia power plant, recently the victim of a series of drone attacks. Occupied by Russia since March 2022, the site, located in southern Ukraine, has been targeted several times since April 7, with kyiv and Moscow mutually rejecting responsibility.
Asked by journalists about the origin of these recent attacks, Rafael Grossi assured that “in this case it is simply impossible” to identify the country responsible. Because the attacks were carried out by drones which can make detours and the drones in question “can be obtained virtually anywhere”.
ARREST
The Russian security services (FSB) announced on Tuesday that they had arrested a Russian citizen for attempting to assassinate a former officer of the Ukrainian security services (SBU), who was injured last week in the explosion of his car in Moscow.
The FSB said in a statement that it had “arrested a Russian citizen, born in 1983, who blew up in Moscow (…) on the orders of the Ukrainian special services the car of a Russian citizen, former member of the Ukrainian security services”.
The former Ukrainian officer who crossed over to the Russian side, Vassili Prozorov, also accused him after the explosion “the kyiv terrorist regime” to be responsible for it.
According to the FSB, the suspect arrested as part of an investigation into “attempted murder” arrived in Russia in March from Ukraine. He has “obtained components for a remote-controlled explosive device, assembled it” and placed it under the car of the ex-SBU officer.
“MAKE A DECISION”
“We are surviving and we must protect our people,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast Monday by the American channel PBS News. “The ball is in your court. Please, just make a decision,” the Ukrainian president asked Washington, referring to $60 billion in aid blocked for months by the US Congress, amid political tensions between Republicans and Democrats.
SCHOLZ
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his intention on Tuesday to discuss a “just peace” in Ukraine with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Beijing.
“My meeting with President Xi will also focus on how we can further contribute to a just peace in Ukraine,” Mr. Scholz wrote on the social network since my last visit to China.
Wherever they come from, these “reckless attacks”the first to directly target the largest power plant in Europe since November 2022, “must stop immediately”argued Rafael Grossi during a meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to this issue. “Although fortunately they did not cause a radiological incident this time, they significantly increased the risk at the Zaporizhia plant, where nuclear safety is already compromised,” added the director general of the UN body, which has experts on site.
They also constitute a “dangerous precedent, having successfully reached the containment structure of a reactor”. “We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident”he insisted, calling for a “roll of the dice does not decide what will happen tomorrow.” Even though the plant’s six reactors are shut down, “the potential dangers of a major nuclear accident remain very real”insisted Rafael Grossi.