Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, has declared that the government will not tolerate Russian attempts to establish control over the Zaporizhzhya NPP and the country's nuclear facilities in general. The Minister made the relevant statement on a joint telethon of Ukrainian TV channels.
Kuleba said that the day before, during a visit to Antalya, he had met with the IAEA Director-General [Rafael Grossi, ed.]
"I told him a straightforward thing that from the point of view of technological and technical safety, we are entirely open to cooperation with the IAEA. Please send at least 100 of your experts to every nuclear facility in Ukraine. Install cameras and surveillance systems. We do not mind. But there should be no legitimization of Russia's presence at Ukraine's nuclear facilities." Kuleba said.
The Minister stressed that from the first days of the capture of the Chernobyl and then the Zaporizhzhya NPP, the Russian occupiers have been trying to act as rightful representatives of these facilities and put forward conditions to "legitimize their presence at Ukraine's nuclear facilities in any way".
"For example, they come out and say: "Let's hold tripartite consultations which include the IAEA, the Ukrainian nuclear energy regulator, and the Russian one." I said to the IAEA director: "Apology for my diplomacy, but what on the earth the Russian nuclear regulator will participate in consultations on the Ukrainian nuclear power plant issues? If you are principle-based people, if you stand up for certain rights, then you should tell the Russians: "Scat! Get out beyond nuclear facilities, demilitarized nuclear facilities, and handed them over to the control of Ukrainian specialists," Kuleba said.
According to the Ukrainian diplomat, Grossi expressed understanding and approval of such an approach.
"Until the Russians came, there were no problems with nuclear energy. Ukraine has always been an exemplary participant in all international nuclear security regimes. Now the Russians came and created an issue. They are trying to solve it in such a way as to gain a foothold in our nuclear facility. IAEA has assured me that they will not support such an approach. But I want to see how it works in practice," the Minister said.
"I also think that they may not have given such an order, but a Russian tanker who drove into the Zaporizhzhya NPP out of fear could shoot anywhere. Therefore, the question is not that someone should be afraid of the order. The point is that the Russian side must demilitarize the objects, and Russia must refrain from any attempts to establish control over them," Kuleba stressed.
Earlier, on the night of March 3, the Russian terrorists fired at ZNPP in Energodar and seized station territory. Today, it became known that the occupiers are using this territory to consolidate their positions. In addition, the Russians mined the shores of the Kakhovka Reservoir near the station.