Amid concerns over a captured nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the United Nations has dismissed suggestions that it is behind any delays getting international inspectors to the Zaporizhzhye facility, as concerns mount amid reports of shelling around the plant, which Ukraine and occupying Russian troops each blame on the other.
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Ukrainian and international warnings have intensified as safety crews work at gunpoint and Russians allegedly prepare to divert energy production from Zaporizhzhye, which is Europe's biggest nuclear plant with six Soviet-designed reactors.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York on August 15 that the world body's nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), acts independently but the Ukrainian and Russian sides must agree on a visit.
Dujarric said it was "just not the case" that the UN's executive arm was delaying any trip by IAEA people.
"The UN Secretariat has no authority to block or cancel" a visit to Zaporizhzhya, he said, and moreover has "the security, the logistics capacity" in Ukraine to support it.
"But there needs to be an agreement with Russia and Ukraine," Dujarric added.
The UN comments followed a pledge by Moscow to do "everything necessary" to allow IAEA experts to visit the Zaporizhzhya plant and Russia's defense minister reportedly speaking to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the situation at the facility.
Guterres has urged that a demilitarized zone be created around Zaporizhzhya, in southeastern Ukraine near the center of fighting in the five-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow's overtures came one day after 42 countries from around the world signed a statement urging Russia to withdraw its armed forces from Europe's largest nuclear station, saying their presence posed "a great danger."
Kyiv and some Western leaders have accused Moscow of "nuclear blackmail" in its assaults on Ukrainian nuclear facilities as well as its implied threats to deploy its nuclear arsenal if Ukraine's supporters cross the Kremlin's red lines.
In his nightly video address on August 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the international community needs to act to prevent an accident or other catastrophic events at Zaporizhzhya due to Russian actions.
"If now the world does not show strength and decisiveness to defend one nuclear power station, it will mean that the world has lost," Zelenskiy said, according to Reuters. "It will lose to terrorism, and give in to nuclear blackmail."
Zelenskiy warned over the weekend that recent shelling at the plant had increased the threat of a radiation leak. Russia doesn't deny it has troops located at the plant but has disputed claims it has shelled the area. Instead, Moscow blames Ukrainian forces for firing artillery shells there, which officials in Kyiv deny.
The situation at the plant has caused heightened alarm at the United Nations and the IAEA. Both have said IAEA inspectors should be allowed to visit the plant.
"In close cooperation with the Agency and its leadership, we will do everything necessary to make it possible for IAEA specialists to appear at the station," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on August 15.
Moscow later said that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had spoken to Guterres about the security of Zaporizhzhya.
"Sergei Shoigu conducted telephone negotiations with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regarding the conditions for the safe operation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
It did not elaborate.
Guterres' office did not immediately confirm the conversation or its substance, and it was unclear if spokesman Dujarric's comments reflected any conversation with Shoigu.
On August 14, the statement by 42 countries condemned Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and said the presence of Russian military forces at the plant was preventing authorities from maintaining nuclear and radiation safety obligations.
"It is undeniable that Russia’s invasion and its continued presence at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities significantly raise the risk of nuclear incidents and accidents," the statement released on the European Union's website says.
"We urge the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its military forces and all other unauthorized personnel from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, its immediate surroundings, and all of Ukraine so that the operator and the Ukrainian authorities can resume their sovereign responsibilities within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and the legitimate operating staff can conduct their duties without outside interference, threat, or unacceptably harsh working conditions.
"Deployment of Russian military personnel and weaponry at the nuclear facility is unacceptable and disregards the safety, security, and safeguards principles that all members of the IAEA have committed to respect," the statement added.
This statement was issued on behalf of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the European Union.