Ukraine urges world to declare Russia's actions at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant illegal and dangerous

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has called on the international community to clearly recognise the actions of Russia and its state nuclear corporation Rosatom at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) as illegal, unacceptable and critically dangerous.

Source: Sybiha on X (Twitter) on Sunday 12 October, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Sybiha noted that the plant has been completely without power for almost three weeks, posing a direct threat to nuclear safety.

He said Russia has deliberately disconnected the ZNPP from the Ukrainian grid in order to test its forced connection to the Russian grid – a step that is unprecedented in the history of nuclear energy.

Rosatom's unauthorised actions violate internationally recognised nuclear safety protocols, contravene the Ukrainian licence, and risk causing a nuclear accident, Sybiha said.

The foreign minister stressed that Moscow is attempting to deceive the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the entire technical and diplomatic community by pretending that the problem has been caused by someone else.

"We call on the international community to clearly recognise Russia's and Rosatom's actions as illegal, unacceptable and critically dangerous. We urge the IAEA to exert pressure on Russia to abort all technical transformations at the plant and return it to its legal owner, Ukraine," Sybiha tweeted.

Background:

• On 1 October, the EU called on Russia to immediately cease all military operations around the ZNPP so that power lines can be urgently repaired.
• On 29 September, Oleh Korikov, Ukraine's Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety, reported that the ZNPP had been disconnected from the Ukrainian grid for six days and that safety systems were being powered by emergency diesel generators.

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