The director of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, criticized this Friday (4) that the security of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was put at risk by an attack by Russia, but assured that they did not occur. radioactive leaks from the facility.
“Safety was compromised with what happened at night. We are lucky that there was no leakage of radiation,” said the Argentine, at a press conference in Vienna, Austria. Grossi, in the meeting with journalists, also highlighted that the situation is “unprecedented”.
This morning, Russian military forces control the plant, according to information from the Russian Ministry of Defense, released by the Interfax agency. Ukraine confirmed the Russians’ dominance over the site. “The territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is occupied by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian state agency said in a statement reproduced by France-Presse.
On Thursday night, a Russian attack hit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Enerhodar region of southeastern Ukraine. The fire in one of the buildings at the facility was brought under control this morning at 6:20 am local time (1:20 am GMT).
“The integrity of the reactors was not compromised, but that of the plant, in the broadest sense,” said the Argentine diplomat, who warned of the risks if the fighting continued close to the atomic units.
Grossi said that the projectile that hit the nuclear facility was launched by Russian troops and reinforced the danger of fighting taking place near complexes such as the one in Zaporizhzhia, due to their great fragility.
The head of the UN nuclear agency indicated that the situation is very “unstable and fragile”. The Argentine assured that he is in contact with the Ukrainian authorities to follow the events linked to the incident and was willing to travel to the former nuclear power plant in Chernobyl to assess the region.
“I’m ready to go,” Grossi said after receiving a request for assistance from Ukraine.
“If we’re going to offer assistance, we have to be there. And the first to go should be the IAEA director.
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