The United Nations will conduct an investigation into the explosion at the Yelenovka colony, which killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war who were there in late July. The mission will be led by Brazilian General Carlos dos Santos Cruz, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “We will continue to work to obtain the necessary guarantees of safe access to the premises and all other locations,” Guterres promised on Thursday, August 18, in Lviv.

In this western Ukrainian city, a trilateral meeting of the UN chief took place with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Upon completion, António Guterres called the grain export deal “just the beginning” of a positive trend. “People need peace,” he stressed, recalling the high death toll, widespread destruction and serious human rights violations during Russia’s war against Ukraine. Guterres called for an end to this war through diplomacy.

Zelensky asked the UN to guarantee the security and demilitarization of the ZNPP

In a meeting with António Guterres, the parties “agreed to continue the coordination in the implementation of the cereal initiative”, having also discussed the issue of the forced deportation of Ukrainians to the Russian Federation and the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and doctors. “Ukraine is ready to continue to be the guarantor of global food security”, assured Zelensky.

One of the main topics of dialogue was the situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant captured by Russian troops and the continuous bombing of the plant. “This deliberate terror on the part of the aggressor could have catastrophic global consequences. Therefore, the UN is obliged to guarantee the security of this strategic installation, its demilitarization and the complete liberation of Russian troops”, said the Ukrainian president.

Turkey will help restore Ukraine

After the talks between Zelensky and Erdogan, a memorandum was signed on Turkey’s participation in post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian president’s website. The first project could be the construction of a bridge in the village of Romanovka, Kyiv region, which linked Bucha and Irpen to the capital and was destroyed in the early days of the war. “We are grateful to our Turkish partners for their readiness to cooperate in restoring the infrastructure destroyed by Russia. Turkish companies have extensive experience in road and bridge construction, in particular the Zaporozhye and Kremenchug bridges, and have established themselves as a reliable partner. , we hope that very soon we will achieve concrete practical results of joint restoration,” said Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

For his part, the Ukrainian president on Telegram called Erdogan’s visit to Ukraine “an important message of support from such a powerful country”. In addition, the parties discussed “the possibility of improving the grain initiative, the situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and nuclear blackmail by the occupiers, the large-scale theft of grain from Russia in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.” , as well as defense cooperation issues, Zelensky said.

Erdogan spoke about the threat of a “new Chernobyl”

In turn, Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the threat of a new nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine. “We don’t want to see a new Chernobyl,” he emphasized. The Turkish president also noted that he believes in the possibility of resolving the conflict “at the negotiating table”.

On the day of the meeting between Zelensky, Guterres and Erdogan, a protest rally was held in Lviv, whose participants called for the rescue of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by Russia and the recognition of the Russian Federation as a terrorist state. They announced the inaction of the UN and other international organizations on the problem of releasing the defenders of the Mariupol “Azovstal” plant, who are held captive in the self-proclaimed “DNR”.

Attack on Yelenovka, the situation in the ZNPP and Ukraine’s “grain corridor”

An explosion in one of the colony’s barracks in Yelenovka occurred on the morning of July 29. According to Russian data, at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners were killed. The Russian side accuses Ukraine of attacking with HIMARS systems in the building where the prisoners were held. Kyiv categorically denies this. Military experts agree that the Russians used thermobaric munitions there. The Red Cross said it did not guarantee the safety of Ukrainian prisoners leaving Azovstal.

Since the end of July, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and captured by the Russian Federation in early March, has been subjected to regular bombing, and there have also been reports in the media that it was mined by Russians. troops. The IAEA warns of the risk of a nuclear catastrophe. A few days ago, the head of the international agency, Rafael Grossi, at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, demanded that IAEA experts be immediately authorized to enter the plant. The head of Ukrainian state-owned Energoatom, Petr Kotin, told DW that the Ukrainian side does not fully control the nuclear and radiological safety of the ZNPP.

An agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain by sea from three Ukrainian ports was signed in late July in Istanbul between the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN. Thus, it should solve the problem of exporting several million tons of Ukrainian grain, which have been blocked in seaports since the beginning of the war. Less than a day after the agreement was signed, Russia launched a missile attack on the port of Odessa. The “Corridor de Grains” began operating in early August.