According to RIA Novosti, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reached Zaporozhye NPP. Delegates arrived on the territory of the Zaporozhye region, controlled by Russia, to study the situation at the nuclear power plant.
Before that, they were detained for some time at a checkpoint in the Zaporozhye region controlled by Kiev. The head of the military-civil administration of the Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Balitsky, spoke about this on the broadcast of the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
A few hours later, Balitsky, together with the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi, said that the car had passed all the checkpoints and was moving towards the ZNPP.
“Grossi has now passed our checkpoint, a few more cars are passing, because there are a lot of cars, now they are already in our area, they are at our checkpoint. The first vehicles passed more than an hour ago, and the main part of this convoy, which was detained by the Ukrainian side, has already been released. “They pass the first check, and in literally a few minutes they will continue moving in the direction of the nuclear power plant,” he said.
Less than an hour later, it was learned that the first vehicles of the convoy had arrived at ZNPP.
Grossi himself said on the morning of September 1 that the minimum conditions for the mission to arrive had been met. But there are also risks.
“We know that between the last line of the Ukrainian defense and the front line of the Russian forces there is a zone where the risk is significant, a so-called gray zone,” Grossi said. Said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense noted that the situation at the nuclear power plant area is “difficult, but under full control”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized that the Russian side is “doing everything so that this station is safe, operates safely and fulfills all the plans of the mission there.”
“They say they have no authority to identify those responsible, but of course all traces left as a result of the Ukrainian bombardment will be shown to them. At our insistence, the mission should have ballistics experts. So I hope we learn something. More precisely, we know everything, I hope the world community will get such an opportunity.”
Russian President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was “fearing provocations from the Ukrainian side”.
“Attempts are being made to destabilize the situation. We are still waiting for this task and are ready to cooperate. We are interested in seeing this mission reach the station,” a Kremlin spokesperson told reporters.
A few hours before the mission arrives
On the morning of September 1, the Russian Ministry of Defense declared “a major provocation attempt to disrupt the arrival of the IAEA working group” by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And also about the shelling of the territory of the ZNPP from Ukrainian artillery.
The Ministry of Defense’s message also refers to an attempt to break through two sabotage groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a Ukrainian landing.
“At 6.20 Moscow time, on the banks of the Kakhovka reservoir, three kilometers northeast of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the Kyiv regime reduced two sabotage groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to seven high points, the total number of which was up to 60. fast motorboats,” the Ministry of Defense said.
It states that the Ukrainian army was “obstructed by units of the Russian Guards guarding the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and units of the Russian armed forces approaching them to strengthen them.”
“At about 7:00 am Moscow time, units of the Russian armed forces blocked the attempt of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to make a tactical landing on two self-propelled barges that left Nikopol a few kilometers from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Vodiane village. As a result of the fire damage of the Russian Armed Forces, two self-propelled barges of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with tactical landing forces sank.
Mission of the IAEA
The day before, 14 delegates of the international association arrived in Zaporozhye, the administrative center of the Ukrainian-controlled region. On September 1, the mission, consisting of a convoy of a large group of vehicles, moved in the direction of the nuclear power plant.
According to IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, French agency Agence France-Presse reported that delegates came to the nuclear power plant to “avoid a nuclear accident and save Europe’s largest nuclear power plant”. Moscow and Kyiv regularly accuse each other of bombing the station’s territory.
Grossi emphasized that the delegates will start working immediately and evaluate the security situation in ZNPP. Additionally, the IAEA mission will consider establishing a permanent presence at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Members of the international agency will consult with station staff to assess the situation.
Source: Gazeta
