Russia did not let independent journalists into the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant along with the mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said .
“When we met with Mr. Grossi [head of mission] and members of the mission in Kyiv, we agreed that the mission would be accompanied by journalists from Ukrainian and international media. independent journalists. For the world to see the truth. I saw what was happening. Unfortunately, this has not been done. Although promised. Unfortunately, the occupiers did not let the journalists in, but organized a mass meeting of their propagandists. Unfortunately, the IAEA representatives did not protect representatives of the independent media,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky also said that he was waiting for a call to demilitarize the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and expressed the hope that the IAEA "will be able to draw objective conclusions" from what is happening at the plant.
Energoatom, the operating company of Ukraine's nuclear power plants, also announced that independent journalists were not allowed into the ZNPP. The company claims that the Russian side is distorting the situation at the ZNPP, trying to hide the real state of affairs from international inspectors. Energoatom also reported that Russian military trucks, which are located in the engine rooms of power units, were presented to IAEA experts as equipment of the chemical defense troops. In addition, according to Energoatom, the mission was not allowed into the ZNPP crisis center, where the Russian military is located, who were not supposed to be seen by representatives of the IAEA. Only operational personnel were allowed to work at the Zaporozhye NPP, and the stay of people on the routes of the IAEA mission was limited, the company said. Also on the day of the mission's visit to Energodar, mobile communications and the Internet were jammed. Energodar also stated that the IAEA missions showed a "staged show" in advance, as if the "residents of Energodar" were complaining about the shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian agencies released a video showing IAEA chief Rafael Grossi being approached by two men who introduced themselves as local residents and handed him more than 20,000 signatures from residents of the Zaporozhye region asking him to stop shelling.
The IAEA mission arrived at the Zaporozhye NPP on September 1 in the afternoon, despite shelling in the region and the city of Energodar. The delegation included experts from Poland, Lithuania, China, France and other countries. On the same day, the main part of the delegation left, but a few of its representatives remained at the station to observe the situation there.
Earlier, several sources told The Insider at once that Russian security forces are kidnapping, torturing and killing employees of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. ZNPP officials say the Russian military regularly fires on power lines in an attempt to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and then connect it to the Russian one. They also, according to some reports, intend to take out American nuclear fuel, which is loaded into four of the station's six power units. At the same time, the Russian military stores ammunition directly in the premises of the nuclear power plant, which, if detonated, can lead to a nuclear catastrophe.
