Employees of Zaporizhzhya NPP have been subjected to a crushing reprisal. Some of them have gone missing, their fate and current whereabouts are unknown, the press service of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate has said.
"A part of the staff, who for various reasons have agreed to cooperate with the occupiers, and a specially prepared 'crowd' are to make the [IAEA] mission believe that local residents fully support the occupiers' actions. So far Russian spindoctors are working with them to come up with a scenario and create the necessary 'picture' for the Kremlin," the statement reads.
The Main Intelligence Directorate calls on the international community to facilitate the effective and objective work of the IAEA mission at the ZNPP.
The mission should clarify the circumstances that led to the risk of an accident at Europe's largest nuclear facility.
The IAEA mission to the ZNPP should result in the establishment of a permanent representation of the organization at the plant.
The territory of the plant must be demilitarized, after which a 10-km safety zone and a protected transport corridor for the delivery of necessary equipment and specialists to the ZNPP must be created.
Earlier, advisers to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian troops shelled the route taken by inspectors to the ZNPP to force them to travel there through Russian-controlled territory, while Russia accused Ukrainian forces of firing on the plant at night. Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were in fact firing at the plant from a neighbouring town across the Dnieper River.
Arriving in Zaporizhzhya, Grossi said he was confident the mission could be carried out safely.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry earlier said that as part of the mission, IAEA experts should record violations of nuclear and radiation safety standards and norms at the Zaporizhzhya NPP under the Russian occupation.