Ukraine: IAEA chief slams ‘complacency’ over stricken Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant
Amid the biggest reported missile attack on Ukraine in weeks, the UN’s atomic energy agency, IAEA, said on Thursday that Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant had to switch to backup generators once again, after losing all power.
Amid the biggest reported missile attack on Ukraine in weeks, the UN’s atomic energy agency, IAEA, said on Thursday that Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant had to switch to backup generators once again, after losing all power.
This is the first time the site has lost all power since November 2022 – but the sixth time that all off-site power has been cut since the Russian invasion last February - IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said, in a statement to agency directors.
🇺🇦’s #Zaporizhzhya NPP suffered 11 hours of complete external power loss today, having to rely on emergency diesel generators for the 6th time during the military conflict in the country. Power line was reconnected around 4pm local time. https://t.co/0V5NRPlbvWhttps://t.co/auAvvQEYu3
iaeaorg
The agency said late on Thursday that power had been restored after 11 tense hours of being completely disconnected.
The plant has been occupied by Russian forces since the first few days of the full-scale invasion last year, but IAEA experts are deployed there and Ukrainian civilians continue to operate the plant, under the watch of the Russian military.
On Wednesday while in Kyiv, UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that the IAEA had been “fully mobilized” to try and preserve the safety and security of nuclear facilities throughout Ukraine and called for the full demilitarization of the entire area around Zhaporizhzhya.
‘Our luck will run out’
“Each time we are rolling a dice. And if we allow this to continue time after time then one day our luck will run out,” the IAEA chief warned.
He added that “there is enough diesel on site for 15 days” to supply the plant’s “essential” needs but that the situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power station remains critical.
In an appeal for action to resolve the conflict and guarantee the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure, Mr. Grossi said that he was astonished “by the complacency” of the international community.
He said he would continue to urgently consult Ukrainian and Russian authorities to help avert a potential nuclear disaster, should the reactor lose power altogether.
Massive wave of Russian strikes
Meanwhile across many areas of Ukraine, Russia once again launched a “massive wave of strikes”, killing civilians in several regions, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, told journalists at UN Headquarters on Thursday.
Russian missiles also struck civilian infrastructure in many parts of Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv.
“The strikes – the first of this type in more than a month – hit power infrastructure across the country. In Kyiv, nearly 40 per cent of the people have been left without heat, while 15 per cent of homes and businesses lost access to electricity, according to the authorities”, Mr. Haq reported.
In the city of Kharkiv, liberated from Russian control during an offensive last September, he said 1.4 million people now lacked heating, electricity and water.
“In Kherson, the local authorities and our partners on the ground tell us that at least three civilians were killed at a bus stop in the city centre, which was understood to be hit by a missile.”
Civilians killed far from the front
Civilians were also killed and injured in the far west of Ukraine, in Lviv, close to the border with Poland.
Houses and other infrastructure were damaged in Zaporizhzhya and other front-line regions, Mr. Haq said.
“As the Secretary-General stressed yesterday in Kyiv, the United Nations has stayed on the ground”, the Deputy Spokesperson added, “delivering desperately needed humanitarian aid to millions of people in Ukraine.”
© UN News (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: UN News
Where next?
Browse related news topics:
Read the latest news stories:
- Peace or war, midwives keep delivering Sunday, May 05, 2024
- Trafficking in the Sahel: Cracking down on illicit drugs Sunday, May 05, 2024
- First Person: Women in Madagascar too ashamed to seek help giving birth Sunday, May 05, 2024
- ‘Moral obligation’ of Haitian NGO worker to carry on despite kidnapping of two children Saturday, May 04, 2024
- ‘Our voices need to be included’: Trinidadian youth make case for strong role in climate negotiations Saturday, May 04, 2024
- Media Freedom Declining Across Europe, With Implications for Rule of Law Friday, May 03, 2024
- Pillay: Israel is helped by ‘powerful States’ in violation of Palestinians’ rights Friday, May 03, 2024
- World News in Brief: Attacks on civilians in DR Congo, concern over conviction of trade union leader in Cambodia, gang violence in Haiti Friday, May 03, 2024
- UN agencies warn of imminent starvation risk in Sudan’s Darfur region Friday, May 03, 2024
- East Africa: UN support continues amid heavy rains, severe floods and cyclone threat Friday, May 03, 2024