“The day has come, the IAEA mission to Zaporizhia is now on its way. We must protect the security of Ukraine and the largest power plant in Europe”, wrote Rafael Grossi on Twitter, specifying that the mission would arrive on site “later this week”.
In a photo accompanying his message, the head of the IAEA poses with a team of ten people, wearing caps and vests with the logo of the UN body.
Mr. Grossi had been asking for several months to be able to go to the scene, warning of the “real risk of nuclear disaster”.
The Zaporizhia plant, where six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors are located, was taken by Russian troops in early March, shortly after the invasion began on February 24, and is near the frontline in the south.
kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of carrying out shelling near the complex, near the town of Energodar, on the Dnieper River, and thus putting the site in danger.
The Ukrainian operator Energoatom warned on Saturday of the risk of radioactive leaks and fires after new strikes.
In recent weeks, Zaporijjia crystallizes the concerns of Westerners. The UN has called for an end to all military activity in the surrounding area.
Initially, Ukraine feared that such a visit would legitimize the Russian occupation of the site in the eyes of the international community before finally supporting the idea of an IAEA mission.
Faced with this “dangerous” situation, President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged the UN nuclear police on Friday to send a team as soon as possible.
Between Thursday and Friday, the plant and its six reactors of 1,000 megawatts each were “totally disconnected” from the national grid due to damage to the power lines, according to kyiv, before being reconnected and restarted.
Vladimir Putin has accepted the organization of a mission passing “through Ukraine” and not through Russia, which he previously demanded, the French presidency had indicated in mid-August after a telephone interview with ‘Emmanuel Macron with the Russian President.
