The safety of the plant in Zaporizhzhia is “on a knife’s edge,” said the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Raphael Grossi, after two mines recently exploded near it, reports France Presse.

“If we do not act now to protect the station, our luck may change sooner or later with potentially serious consequences for human health and the environment,” Grossi warned in a statement released in Vienna, where the IAEA is headquartered.

“We are on a knife’s edge in terms of nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhia power plant,” Europe’s largest, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, he added, echoing fears his organization has expressed several times.

According to the statement, two explosions of anti-personnel mines took place near the factory fence: the first on April 8, and the second four days later.

It is currently unknown what caused the explosions, emphasized Grossi, who last week met with high-ranking Russian officials in Kaliningrad (western Russia). Shortly before that, he went to the power plant in Zaporizhzhia, for the second time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

On Thursday, the IAEA director warned, among other things, that the plant, which is home to six nuclear reactors, continues to depend on one power line that is still operational, posing a “major risk to nuclear safety.”

The emergency power line damaged on March 1 has not yet been repaired, the UN agency IAEA expressed regret.

The IAEA also emphasizes that the staffing situation at this plant remains “difficult and difficult”, also due to the lack of workers.

On Thursday, Energoatom was informed about the explosion of a Russian mine near the control room of one of the reactors of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, Unian reports with reference to the statement of Energoatom.

“The Russian occupiers continue to turn the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant into a military base, mining around the plant. And these actions cannot but have consequences,” warns Energoatom in its statement published on Telegram, which indicates that an explosion occurred near the control panel of the IV reactor.

“As the nuclear terrorists themselves stated, one of their mines exploded,” the quoted message reads.

The sound of the explosion was heard by Ukrainian employees who continue to work at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. But, according to “Energoatom”, the Russians “tried” to calm them down and cover up the traces of the deflagration so that the IAEA experts present at the site would not see it.

Despite the fact that Ukrainians continue to work there, the Zaporozhye plant is under the control of the Russian state corporation Rosatom.

As previously reported by Ukrainian and international mass media, the Russian army deployed not only armed soldiers, but also military equipment on the territory of this nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

At the end of March, after eight months of fruitless negotiations, the IAEA abandoned the idea of ​​creating a demilitarized zone around the nuclear power plant. According to Rafael Grossi, the agency is now looking for another solution to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, reports Nastoiaşcee Vremea, a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America. (Agerpress)