Zelenskyy meets IAEA chief, says Zaporizhzhia plant must go back to Ukraine
Meeting between IAEA chief Rafael Grossi and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy (photo: president.gov.ua)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on April 26 with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. During the meeting, they discussed issues related to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, including returning the facility under Ukrainian control, according to the head of state's post on Telegram.
"During the meeting… I stressed that formalizing or legitimizing Russia's presence at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is unacceptable," the president said.
According to him, he and Grossi also discussed temporary power outages affecting the plant's units, reductions in their output, and the potential consequences of "these criminal actions."
Zelenskyy also emphasized that for safe operation, the plant must be returned to the control of Ukraine's licensed operator and nuclear regulator.
"We agreed to continue IAEA missions to ensure constant monitoring of the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. I am grateful to Rafael Grossi and the agency team for visiting our country on the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster," he concluded.
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
Shortly before the meeting with Grossi, Zelenskyy announced that he planned to discuss the peaceful de-occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP with him. He also stressed that the risks and consequences at this nuclear facility could be greater than those at Chornobyl.
In addition, the US government recently expressed concern that Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in 2022 with nuclear fuel and technologies belonging to the engineering company Westinghouse.
