The situation at Europe's largest Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is located on the territory captured by Russian troops, has practically gotten out of control.
According to experts, all principles of nuclear safety have been violated at the NPP, and this threatens the entire European continent with a tragedy worse than Chernobyl.
Currently, due to the threat of disaster, tens of thousands of Ukrainians, who until now remained in the occupied territory for various reasons, are leaving the region en masse. In recent weeks, kilometer-long traffic jams have formed in the direction of the part of the Zaporizhzhia region controlled by Ukraine.
LONG AWAITED VISIT
Since March 4, the day when the ZNPP was captured, there have been unsuccessful negotiations for a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mission to the plant. But only today, September 1, the IAEA delegation is finally scheduled to arrive in Energodar, despite reports of intense shelling.
International specialists will assess the physical damage to the facilities of the ZNPP, determine whether the main and backup safety and security systems are functioning, and also monitor the working conditions of the personnel. In addition, they must take immediate measures to ensure safety at the site.
But the morning of September 1 began with disturbing news. According to the message of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, "in violation of its obligations, the Russian army began a massive shelling of the corridor along which the IAEA mission should pass from Zaporizhzhia to the NPP."
"Russia should immediately stop these dangerous provocations and ensure the safe passage of the IAEA," said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko.
In turn, the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said that the Mission is aware of the increase in military activity in the area of the nuclear power plant, but continues to follow its plan and is going to the ZNPP to meet with its personnel.
"Having come this far, we're not going to stop," Grossi said.
BOMBING OF RUSSIA OR LANDING OF THE LANDING GROUND?
At the same time, the Russians, who control the Zaporozhye NPP, voice a different version of events and deny the shelling from their side. As Oleksandr Volga, the head of the Russian occupation administration of the city, reported, a landing force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly landed near Energodar in the morning:
"At 6:00 a.m., Ukrainian troops in two sabotage groups of up to 60 people in seven boats landed on the coast of the Kakhovsky Reservoir three kilometers northeast of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, after which they attempted to seize the power plant."
According to the representatives of the occupation administration, the Ukrainian units were blocked in the area of the country village.
"Now they are lying down, because aviation works with them," he declares.
Earlier it became known that at least three civilians were killed as a result of intensive shelling of Energodar in the morning of September 1. One of the shells fell about a hundred meters from the kindergarten. After the shelling, a fire broke out in two preschools.
In turn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the aggressor country Serhii Lavrov called Zelenskyi's words about the security guarantees of the IAEA mission during the visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "a guilty plea".
He also added that the Russian side, they say, "does everything necessary to ensure that the international mission of the IAEA to the ZNPP takes place, takes place in a safe mode and is able to achieve all the goals set before it."
THREAT OF DISASTER
Meanwhile, in the comments of both the Russian and Ukrainian sides, it is noted that the shelling of the station continues right now, while the projectiles fall into the spent nuclear fuel storage areas, which could cause a terrible radiation disaster.
In this regard, it remains unclear what functions and powers the potential permanent mission of the IAEA at the Zaporizhia NPP will assume. So far, even the IAEA has not decided whether the Mission will try to replace the management of the station or its employees, or determine the order and mode of its work. Or it will just be a monitoring mission that will only describe the situation and then go from there.
There is a very significant difference between these options, and at stake in this stalemate are millions of human lives both in the south of Ukraine and in all neighboring states.
