ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — The UN’s nuclear energy chief warned during a meeting Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the dangerous situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant “isn’t getting any better” as relentless fighting in the area keeps the plant in danger Catastrophe.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant’s six reactors are shut down and it is receiving the power it needs to prevent a reactor meltdown from just one remaining power line. It had to be occasionally switched to backup diesel generators to power its essential cooling systems.
In a meeting with Zelenskyy in southern Ukraine, reported exclusively by The Associated Press, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said the situation at the plant was critical due to the heavy military presence around it and a power outage that recently hit the plant remains tense. something that has happened repeatedly since Russian forces took over last year.
Grossi plans to visit the plant for the second time this week after the Russian invasion 13 months ago. Since Grossi’s last visit in September, the Viennese agency has stationed employees at the plant.
Earlier this month, power to the power plant was cut for half a day, forcing workers to activate backup generators.
Grossi had expressed concern about this development.
“Every time we roll the dice,” he told his agency at the time. “And if we keep letting that happen, one day we’ll run out of luck.”
Grossi and Zelenskyi met in the city of Zaporizhzhia, located on Ukrainian territory, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the nuclear power plant of the same name.
The IAEA said in January it was sending teams of experts to all four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to reduce the risk of accidents, including the now-closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, whose deadly nuclear accident in 1986 spread consequences across much of Europe.
Grossi stressed that his seventh trip to Ukraine underlined his commitment and support “as long as it lasts”.
The meeting was also attended by other IAEA officials, the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, and the head of nuclear operator Energoatom, Petro Kotin.
During his stay in Zaporizhia, Zelenskyi also inspected military positions in the partially occupied province and bestowed military honors on the soldiers. He was visiting wounded soldiers at a hospital and an apartment building that Kiev said was hit by a missile on Wednesday, killing at least one person and injuring more than 30.
Local residents were still shocked by the experience.
“It’s scary. I can’t find the words to tell you,” said Hanna Budkova, 39, who was with her almost two-year-old daughter at a busy playground in front of the apartment block. “I’m afraid to go anywhere near the windows.”
Zelenskyy later visited Nikopol, a frequently shelled city across the Dnieper from the nuclear power plant, according to the presidential office.
Elsewhere, two people were killed and 29 injured on Monday when Russian forces shelled the city of Sloviansk in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region, officials said.
Video footage of the aftermath showed damaged homes, debris on the streets and burning vehicles. Zelenskyy described the attack as “terrorism”.
Russia has denied attacking residential areas, although artillery and rocket attacks have hit Ukrainian homes and civilian infrastructure daily throughout the war.
The attack on Sloviansk followed a typical pattern of long-range shelling adopted by Kremlin forces, particularly in recent months as fighting stalled over the winter.
In the eastern Donetsk region, about 10 towns and villages have been shelled by Russian forces over the past 24 hours, the Presidential Office of Ukraine reported.
Russian missiles hit the city of Avdiivka, damaging residential buildings, a hotel and a courthouse, sources said.
Avdiivka Mayor Vitali Barabash said utilities were being evacuated from the frontline town as it “more and more resembles a landscape from post-apocalyptic movies”.
Attacks also increased in the Zaporizhia region, where 14 frontline settlements were shelled, authorities said.
In the partially occupied Kherson region, the Ukrainian-controlled part of the province has been bombed 20 times, injuring four people, the presidential office said.
Multiple blasts have rocked the Russian-held town of Melitopol in the Zaporizhia region, damaging a building housing Russian security forces, exiled mayor-elect Ivan Fyodorov said. Authorities deployed by Russia said the “artillery shelling” of Melitopol partially destroyed a vocational school building, damaged several other buildings and injured four people.
Zelenskyy had previously met with British actor Orlando Bloom in Kiev, according to Yermak, the head of the presidential office. Bloom, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, arrived over the weekend and visited her suburb of Irpin.
In his meeting with Zelenskyi, Bloom said: “He was struck by the courage and resilience of Ukrainians who remain strong despite the war,” Yermak wrote.
Bloom “will support humanitarian aid delivery and infrastructure restoration projects focused on safeguarding the interests of Ukrainian children,” the official said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a meeting in the Netherlands on Monday that Germany had fulfilled its promised delivery of 18 modern Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. Canada, Norway and Poland have also sent such tanks to Ukraine.
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This corrected that the Zaporizhzhia plant is currently not supplying electricity.
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