Ukraine: Russia must withdraw from Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

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The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant must be protected, and to achieve this, Russia must withdraw its heavy weapons and military personnel from the plant,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Russia must withdraw its heavy weapons and military personnel from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant if efforts by the UN’s international atomic watchdog are to succeed to create a buffer zone, the Ukrainian foreign minister said today Dmytro Kuleba.

THE Raphael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been going back and forth between Russia and Ukraine for several months to secure an agreement between the two sides to create a buffer zone around the Russian-controlled nuclear plant so that avoid a nuclear disaster.

Kuleba met with Grossi in Bucharest on Tuesday on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, days after meeting a Russian delegation in Istanbul. “We both agreed that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant must be protected and to achieve this Russia must withdraw its heavy weapons and military personnel from the plant,” Kuleba said.

“We will look at ways to achieve this goal, and Raphael will mediate diplomacy between Kiev and Moscow on this issue.”

Russia and Ukraine have in recent months blamed each other for shelling of the site of the nuclear plant, which has damaged buildings and disrupted power lines at the nuclear plant, which are vital for cooling the fuel of the six reactors and avoiding nuclear meltdown.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear power agency, to seize the nuclear plant’s assets and transfer its Ukrainian staff to a new Russian legal entity. Kyiv said the move was tantamount to theft.

A European diplomatic source said the creation of such a buffer zone has been complicated since Ukraine recaptured the strategically important city of Kherson.

“We want to create a buffer zone, but we also face Ukraine’s legitimate desire to reclaim its territory, including this power plant, which is even more strategically important because of Ukraine’s electricity needs, given that the Russians have bombed its infrastructure,” the source said.

“Therefore, we do not want to establish a system that would legitimize the Russian occupation.”

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