Stop Targeting Ukraine's Biggest Nuke Power Plant, IAEA Tells Russia

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has demanded that Russia stop shelling the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, warning the destruction of the facility would spell a nuclear disaster that will also affect Russia and neighboring countries, Kyiv Independent reported.

Photo Insert: Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA Director General, shows the international press and media the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during a briefing.

IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi issued the demand even as Ukraine told the agency that while there is no damage to the reactors themselves, the IAEA’s presence at the plant is “of paramount importance.”

Grossi has said the agency is ready to deploy a mission. Ukraine said Amnesty International must draw attention to Russia’s irresponsible actions that have endangered civilians and now threaten to repeat the Chernobyl catastrophe.

On Aug. 4, Amnesty International published a report, which accuses the Ukrainian military of endangering civilians. On the other hand, the NGO’s Polish Office has condemned Russia's war crimes. It said Ukraine's military is "defending from a cruel and unjust attack, fighting in unequal conditions imposed by the aggressor."

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has cited an Aug. 6 report from the Russian opposition outlet The Insider that the Russian army has been storing mines and other explosives at the nuclear plant.

ISW reported that Russian forces may have already mined the plant and established Grad rocket batteries near the village of Vodyane, approximately 4 km from the plant's reactors.

The experts previously assessed that Russian forces are likely using the plant to play on Western fears of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine in an effort to degrade Western resolve to provide military support to a Ukrainian counteroffensive, while also effectively using the plant as a nuclear shield to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian forces and equipment.

European Union (EU) foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has asked Russian forces to open the plant to a team from IAEA. Ukraine's state nuclear energy company Energoatom said that there is "a serious risk" to the plant after Russia used anti-aircraft missiles onsite, thus posing fire hazards and threatening the safety of its workers.

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