ARAB AND WORLD
Thu 30 Mar 2023 11:01 am - Jerusalem Time
Grossi seeks compromise to "avoid disaster" at Zaporizhia station
The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, announced on Wednesday that he is working on a security plan for a compromise that guarantees the safety of the Moscow- controlled Zaporizhia nuclear plant , warning of an increase in military activity around it.
Concerns persist about the safety of the nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, which has been repeatedly bombed since Russian forces invaded last year.
Grossi said during his second visit to the largest nuclear plant in Europe that he is working to reach a settlement that would be appropriate for Moscow and Kiev.
"I am trying to prepare realistic procedures for proposing it so that it will be approved by all parties," he said during a press tour organized by Moscow at the station.
"We must avoid a catastrophe. I am optimistic and I think it is possible," said Grossi, who arrived at the nuclear plant in a Russian armored vehicle surrounded by heavily armed soldiers.
But he warned of escalating military activity at the site, appealing to Moscow and Kiev to agree on "principles" to secure its protection.
Grossi said the visit to the nuclear plant was "extremely beneficial".
"The idea is to agree on certain principles and certain commitments, including not attacking the station," he told AFP separately.
Moscow and Kiev accused each other of bombing the Zaporizhia station, raising fears of a catastrophe.
Ross soldiers stationed at the station told AFP during Grossi's visit on Wednesday that they were preparing for a possible attack by Kiev.
They added that their main task is to "prevent the armed takeover" of the site by Ukrainian "vandals".
Ukraine denies any such plans.
The United Nations has called for a demilitarized zone around the nuclear site.
Grossi said his team had previously focused on the possibility of setting up a security zone around the plant.
"The concept is now evolving," he added, with his team focusing on protecting the station itself rather than "territorial aspects that might pose particular problems."
Accompanied by about 30 journalists, Grossi toured the huge, fortified nuclear plant, where he was briefed by its Moscow-appointed director, Yuri Chernyshuk, about the damage it had sustained as a result of the hostilities.
This is Grossi's second visit to Zaporizhia since the start of the war in February 2022, where a team of IAEA experts has been deployed since September.
Earlier this week, Grossi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said it was not possible to restore safety at the plant with Russia in control.
The Russian news agency Tass quoted Rinat Karcha, a consultant in the Russian "Ross-Energo-Atom", which operates the station, as saying on Wednesday that he did not expect the talks to achieve a breakthrough.
"We are under no illusions that Grossi's visit will change anything dramatically. For us, this is a normal event," he added.
The Zaporizhia plant needs electricity from a stable source to ensure basic nuclear safety functions.
But it suffered from frequent power outages during the war, which worried the International Atomic Energy Agency and the international community.
The Russian invasion caused devastation in large areas of the country, and despite the passage of more than 13 months since the invasion, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday maintained a defiant tone.
"Russia must withdraw from every square meter of Ukrainian territory," Kuleba said in a virtual session ahead of the Democracy Summit, which was launched by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
"There should be no misinterpretation of the semantics of the word withdrawal," he added.
In the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, fighting in recent months has focused on the eastern city of Bakhmut, where Kiev has said it is holding out to exhaust Russian forces.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference in Washington that Russia had made "absolutely no progress" on Bakhmut in the past three weeks or so.
"It is a massacre of the Russians," he added.
The main military objective of the Russian invasion is the complete capture of Donetsk, which it already claimed it annexed last year, even as fighting continues there.
On Wednesday, the Russian authorities confirmed that Melitopol, the capital of the Russian occupation, was bombed in the part it controls from the Zaporizhia region, and reported that the bombing hit a train depot without causing any injuries. It also reported a power outage.
The Russian authorities said that the strikes were carried out using the American mobile high-precision HIMARS missile system, while the city is located more than 65 kilometers from the front.
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Grossi seeks compromise to "avoid disaster" at Zaporizhia station