For Kyiv, the specialists of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the body that integrates the UN system, will have many difficulties in preparing an impartial report on the situation at the plant, which is under “continuous attacks”.
“The Russian military is lying, manipulating and changing the reality at the nuclear power plant by publishing – only – information that benefits the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Ukraine’s state-owned Nuclear Energy Corporation (Energoatom) denounced in a message posted on the social network Telegram.
According to Energoatom, the presence of Russian military vehicles in the turbine chamber (where the reactors are located) “was explained to IAEA experts as equipment for the ‘Chemical Defense Forces'”
And the same text added: “The Russians did not allow the mission to enter the crisis center of the factory, where there are Russian soldiers, and the IAEA should not see (…) hide the presence of armed Russian invaders.”
The Ukrainian government entity claimed that the Russians who occupied the nuclear reactor since March 4, a few days after the start of the military offensive against Ukraine (on February 24), “closed cellular and Internet communications” on Energodar. , the location where the infrastructure is located, in order to avoid sending “photos and video” of the installations and the “sleeping city”.
The Ukrainian company also said that the Russian military limited the presence of “factory operations personnel” during the visit of IAEA experts.
The entity also said that “most of the journalists” at the entrance to the nuclear plant are “Russian propagandists” and that the military denied entry to Ukrainian and foreign correspondents who were not allowed to pass through the barriers.
Energoatom considers the mission to have turned into a “planned spectacle” because residents of the Russian-occupied village of Energodar were present and who “complained about the bombing of the Ukrainian armed forces”.
“The occupiers lie and change facts and evidence about the bombing of the plant, as well as the consequences and damage to the infrastructure of the facilities. As expected, they blame the Ukrainian armed forces,” Energoatom.
“Under these conditions, it is clear that it will be difficult for the IAEA to conduct an impartial assessment of the situation at the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia,” he said.
On Thursday, after visiting the site, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said that “it is clear that the central and physical integrity of the facilities has been violated several times, either accidentally or deliberately.”
We do not have the elements to make this assessment, but it is a fact that we must be aware of. The delegate said that the International Atomic Energy Agency “is trying to activate certain mechanisms and establish a permanent presence” of some experts from the United Nations agency at the station.
The head of the mission, who visited “three or four major areas I wanted to personally inspect” – such as nuclear power units, diesel generators and control rooms – and who said he had spoken to Energodar workers and residents, emphasized that “the IAEA is in the middle and not leaving the place”.
According to Grossi, IAEA experts will “remain (at the site) until Sunday or Monday” to deepen the inspection in order to prepare a report.
The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, without specifying an exact number, indicated that a group of experts would remain in the center.
“Hopefully they can provide me and everyone else with a neutral, impartial and technically sound assessment of what might happen,” he said.
For its part, Energoatum said, Thursday, that five technicians from the International Atomic Energy Agency are still at the station.
Alexander Volga, head of the Pro-Russian Interim Administration at Energodar, told Russian state television Rossia-24 today that “at the moment, eight people from the International Atomic Energy Agency remained at the station” as well as “four others accompanying them.”
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