US' silence on Ukraine's strikes on Zaporozhye NPP would lead to nuclear disaster: Russia

Russia on Friday denounced the United States' silence on the shelling at the Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant saying that it is encouraging impunity for the Kyiv regime and contributing to a possible nuclear catastrophe in Europe. " The ultimate goal of the provocation is to create an exclusion zone of up to 30 km, to bring foreign observers to ZNPP territory, and to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of nuclear terrorism," said the Russian Defence Ministry in a letter to UNSC. According to Kremlin, since July 18, the nuclear plant has been subjected to systematic shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces.

"Ukrainian side, together with their US handlers, are trying to play the card by causing what they believe to be a minor accident at the nuclear power plant and thus disrupting its normal and safe operation, blaming it on Russia," Moscow emphasized accusing the United States of provocation. 

Russia insisted that it is ready to provide the IAEA with real high-resolution images, a sample placed on a slide, which shows that Russian troops did not place any weapons on the territory near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power as claimed by the Ukrainian forces. Kremlin claimed that Ukrainian armed forces have been shelling the Zaporozhskaya nuclear power plant using mainly Western-made shells.

"The manufacturer's data [on the shells] is clearly visible, it is the US company EaglePicher Technologies," claimed Moscow sharing the photos on Telegram. "Kyiv regime and its Western supervisors day by day threaten nuclear safety and nuclear security of the largest NPP in Europe," it added. 

Credit: Russia's MFA.

IAEA 'extremely concerned' over shelling of NPP 

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi had earlier warned that he has been "extremely concerned" over shelling at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. The attacks by the Russian and Ukrainian troops near the nuclear facility underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond, he had stated. Grossi had derided the fighting being taken close to the power plant as he called on all parties to exercise restraint around the nuclear facility.

The G7 Foreign Ministers and the High Representative of the European Union in a statement demanded that the Russian forces must "immediately hand back full control" of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant to Ukraine. "We demand that Russia immediately hand back full control to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine, of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant as well as of all nuclear facilities within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders to ensure their safe and secure operations," the G7 Foreign Ministers and the High Representative of the EU said in the statement.