“Inspectors will conduct an independent verification in those locations to detect any movement of nuclear material,” the IAEA chief executive said in a press release.
The IAEA also said at the beginning of this week that an inspection would take place “in the coming days”, without giving details.
In the press release, the agency also states that the two sites were inspected a month ago and that no evidence of undeclared nuclear activity was found at the time.
Grossi gave an update on the situation to the United Nations Security Council today, behind closed doors. “Once our verifications are complete, we will investigate the findings and report the results according to our standard procedures,” he said. “Due to the importance and urgency of this matter, the IAEA will also forward the conclusions to the Board of Governors and to the public afterwards.”
Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that an IAEA mission take place as soon as possible. According to him, Ukraine wants to use a radioactive weapon “to later say that Russia has carried out a nuclear attack”.
A “dirty bomb” consists of conventional explosives and radioactive materials, which are absorbed into the surrounding dust at the time of detonation.
