The group of the seven main industrial countries of the West (the “Big Seven” – G7) urged Russia to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. “It is Russia’s continued control over this nuclear power plant that poses a threat to the region,” G7 foreign ministers and European External Action Service representatives said in a joint statement released on Wednesday, August 10.

The G7 countries expressed “the deepest concern about the serious threat posed by Russia’s actions towards nuclear facilities and warned of the risk of a nuclear accident or incident, the consequences of which would be felt outside Ukraine.” The ministers supported the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to improve nuclear safety in Ukraine.

Support IAEA efforts

They called for experts to be sent to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant to “dispel concerns about nuclear safety”, stressing the need to “respect Ukraine’s sovereignty over its own territory and infrastructure”. According to the G7 ministers, experts must have free access to all nuclear facilities in Ukraine and be able to cooperate directly and without hindrance with Ukrainian personnel at these facilities.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has only recently expressed concern about the situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, which has been taken over by Russian troops, noting that at this plant “all safety principles are violated in one way or another”.

The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant – the largest nuclear power plant in Europe – has been under the control of Russian troops since early March. Since then, the IAEA has been trying unsuccessfully to gain access to this facility. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of attacking nuclear plants. Ukraine’s Energoatom says Russia intends to connect the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant to networks in annexed Crimea and is damaging power lines connecting the plant to Ukraine to do so.