Russia’s seizure of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant has jeopardized the ability of international watchdogs to conduct security inspections.
“This week, I dispatched safeguards inspectors to Ukraine to conduct essential verification activities at the South Ukraine NPP,” said Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Friday. “Unless I am able to do the same for the Zaporizhzhya NPP as soon as possible, the implementation of safeguards in Ukraine will be compromised.”
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhya plant in the early days of the campaign to seize Donbas and other regions of Ukraine while trying to overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government. Russian officials reportedly plan to integrate the nuclear power plant into the Russian electric grid at the expense of Ukraine, and the staff operating the plant have complained of torture and other abuses.
Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is staffed by about 11,000 people, under the watch of 500 Russian troops working “to weed out the Ukrainian partisans,” according to reports. “People just go missing and never come back,” a power plant technician told the Wall Street Journal on condition of anonymity. “Some people come back, but they have spent a couple of weeks somewhere in a cellar, with no food and no water. … If, God forbid, somebody would find out what I spoke about here, I’m done.”
Grossi emphasized that “the situation at this major nuclear power plant is clearly untenable.” The IAEA chief is pushing to send agency inspectors to visit the plant in person.“[E]ssential nuclear material verification activities, such as physical inventory verifications, cannot be done remotely and require the physical presence of IAEA inspectors,” the IAEA press bulletin explained. “The interval of physical inventory verifications at NPPs cannot exceed a specified duration.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ukrainian forces to retreat from key city as Russia advances in eastSievierodonetsk has for weeks been the focal point of the war, with Russia slowly advancing toward its larger goal to take full control of the Donbas region.
Read more »
Russia targeted Ukrainian ammunition to weaken Kyiv on the battlefieldUkraine is running out of shells for the majority of its artillery in part because of a clandestine Russian campaign of bullying and sabotage over the past eight years, according to Ukrainian government officials and military analysts.
Read more »
Russia launches thermobaric warheads at Ukrainian targets: ReportA Russian thermobaric multiple rocket launcher that is mounted on a tank chassis fired at Ukrainian targets with devastating effects, according to reports from Russia military.
Read more »
Russia to place nuclear-capable missiles in BelarusRussia plans to place nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in Belarus, a NATO-neighboring Russian ally that housed the forces that invaded Ukraine and attacked Kyiv.
Read more »
Insight: Love it or hate it, natural gas is likely here to stay.Near-term fuel shortages from the Russian war in Ukraine has not only forced prices up,...
Read more »
Russia fires missiles across Ukraine, cements gains in eastKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces were seeking to swallow up the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region, while pressing their momentum following the withdrawal of…
Read more »