French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that he would have “direct contact” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “in the coming days” regarding the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of bombing, AFP writes.
“I intend to have direct contact with him (Vladimir Putin) in the coming days regarding the civilian nuclear sector, primarily, and the Zaporizhzhia NPP after discussions with the director of the IAEA” (International Atomic Energy Agency). ), French President Raphael Grossi told the press on Wednesday.
Macron’s announcement of talks with Putin comes amid a new wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which has caused blackouts across the country and shut down three nuclear power plants.
On Wednesday, the head of the IAEA discussed the Zaporizhzhia plant with the Russians
The head of the Ministry of Nuclear Energy of the United Nations (IAEA) met on Wednesday in Istanbul with a delegation of the Russian state agency for atomic energy “Rosatom” to discuss the situation around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the south of Ukraine, the IAEA and “Rosatom” reported.
The Zaporizhzhia power plant, which was seized by Russia shortly after February 24, came under fire again at the weekend, prompting new calls from the UN agency for a buffer zone around it to prevent a nuclear disaster.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for explosions at the plant in recent months that have damaged buildings and knocked out power lines that power the plant and are needed to cool the fuel in the six reactors and prevent a nuclear meltdown.
“Today in Istanbul, IAEA Director General Raphael Grossi met with a Russian delegation led by Rosatom CEO Oleksiy Likhachev for consultations on the safety of operation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia NPP and the urgent creation of nuclear safety protection zones,” the IAEA said in a statement. .
Grossi has been warning for months about the risk of a potentially catastrophic accident from the explosions.
The nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, provided about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the invasion and was forced to operate from backup generators several times.
Repeated bombings around the plant have raised concerns about the possibility of a major incident just 500 km from the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
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