IAEA chief Rafael Grossi “said he is continuing his consultations with all parties with the aim of sending an IAEA expert mission to the #ZNPP in the coming days to help ensure nuclear safety there,” the United Nations nuclear watchdog tweeted. on Sunday.
Grossi himself is a member of the team participating in the expert mission, according to a DailyExpertNews report. The Times says Grossi was on a list of names that also included “13 other experts from mostly neutral countries.”
“Neither the United States nor Britain, countries that Russia despises as unfairly biased for their strong support for Ukraine, are represented,” the Times reported.
When DailyExpertNews contacted the IAEA on Sunday about the composition of the expert mission, the nuclear watchdog declined to comment, saying it would not make such information public and that “all IAEA missions have members from different member states, selected on the basis of their relevant expertise. It is international officials who represent the IAEA, not the countries of.”
In a tweet on Sunday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Russian troops to leave the facility.
“For decades, nuclear safety has remained Ukraine’s top priority, especially given our tragic past. Russian invaders have turned the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant into a military base that endangers the entire continent. The Russian military must leave the factory – they have there nothing to do,” he wrote.
Also on Sunday, Russia’s defense ministry again blamed Ukraine for continuing “provocations to create a threat of man-made nuclear disaster” at the Zaporizhzhya power plant. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Ukraine’s actions around the factory “nuclear terrorism.” She added that Russia believes the IAEA inspection of the power plant will take place and that Russia has not been “persuaded” to allow the inspection.
Russian attacks are underway in the wider Zaporizhzhya region. On Sunday, Oleksandr Starukh, head of the Zaporizhzhya region’s civilian military administration, said Russian shelling in Zaporizhzhya’s Tavriyske village destroyed 15 homes. Starukh also said police received reports a day earlier of shelling at a four-storey residential building in Kamianka village in the Pology district of Zaporizhzhya Oblast, leading to the deaths of four civilians, including two minors.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday it hit the Motor Sich plant in Zaporizhzhya, where Ukrainian military helicopters are being repaired. Ukrainian officials have not commented on this claim and Ukraine is not commenting on military losses. DailyExpertNews cannot independently verify this claim.