“The day has come; the aid and support mission to Zaporizhia is already on the way; we must protect the security of the main nuclear facilities in Ukraine and in Europe.” With a certain air of solemnity, Raphael Grossidirector of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has announced this Monday the start of one of the most complicated operations that the organization that it heads since its creation, back in the 1950s, will ever have undertaken: the inspection of a atomic plant militarily taken over by a foreign power and turned into the scene of combat and bombing, with the consequent risk of nuclear catastrophe. A few hours before starting the trip, kyiv has again accused the Russian forces of turning the plant into a military base and taking advantage of the circumstance to bomb with impunity military and civilian targets from inside.
the ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyhas reported in the last few hours that the Russian forces stationed there had opened fire against adjacent populations, knowing that there will be no response against such a dangerous target for the country. “They provoke and try blackmail to the whole world”, the president has imputed on his Telegram channel, while showing images of firefighters putting out a fire. Hours earlier, the Ukrainian Army had reported the bombing of nine cities located on the north bank of the Dniper River.
The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, had accused the Ukrainian forces of bombing the facilities with nine artillery shells, although he has admitted that no damage has been caused and that the radiation levels were normal. According to Russian sources, a drone, a Ukrainian unmanned aircraft, was shot down by the anti-aircraft forces stationed at the center.
The IAEA mission aims to improve security and avoid, as far as possible, its use as a bargaining chip in armed conflict. The inspectors will enter Zaporizhia from kyiv and not from Crimea, as Russia intended. They must issue a report, which is already being questioned from Moscow by the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zajárova. “The conclusions of the work of this mission must be objective“, has warned.
exchange of reproaches
Despite the exchange of reproaches and accusations between the russian side Y ukrainian Regarding the events at the plant, it is possible to establish some certainties. According to The Insider, an investigative publication, Russia has turned the gigantic into a military base, where at least they have been deployed five hundred military, anti-aircraft batteries and radiochemical reconnaissance equipment. In addition, Russian military convoys stop nearby and introduce suspicious merchandise into the facilities, speculating that it could be ammunition. And from this position, it bombards towns located on the north bank of the Dniper River, including the town of Nikopol.
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media like the BBC either ‘The Grid’ They have spread information about what is happening inside the plant based on anonymous sources from the Ukrainian civil servant in charge of the facilities. And these speak of Ukrainian employees and soldiers disappeared or tortured in the first days of the occupation, while the rest of the workers are treated as prisoners of war and their communications are monitored. “It is not possible for us to carry out our duties,” said a plant employee who refused to reveal his last name.
The most serious incident since the beginning of the occupation occurred a few days ago, when a fire damaged the last electrical line that supplies power to the cooling pumps and prevents the nuclear fuel from overheating. This forced the diesel generators to be activated immediately and to disconnect the last two reactors in operation. “The world must understand what kind of threat this is; if the generators had not worked, then we would be facing the consequences of a radioactive catastrophe,” President Zelensky recalled.