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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded blame Monday before the United Nations Security Council over attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said have put the world “dangerously close to a nuclear accident. “.
Without assigning blame, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated that his agency has been able to confirm three attacks against the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant since April 7.
UKRAINE DENIES RUSSIAN CLAIM OF DRONE ATTACKS ON EUROPE’S LARGEST NUCLEAR PLANT
“These reckless attacks must stop immediately,” he told the Security Council. “Although, fortunately, this time they have not caused a radiological incident, they significantly increase the risk… where nuclear safety is already compromised.”
The remote-controlled nature of the drones that attacked the plant means it is impossible to definitively determine who launched them, Grossi told reporters after the meeting.
“To say something like that, we must have evidence,” he said. “These attacks have been carried out with a multitude of drones.”
Zaporizhzhia is located in Russian-controlled territory in southeastern Ukraine and has six nuclear reactors.
Fears of a nuclear catastrophe have been at the forefront since Russian troops occupied the plant shortly after the invasion in February 2022. Continued fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, as well as the tense supply situation at the plant, have raised the specter of disaster.
Ukraine and its allies on Monday again blamed Russia for the dangers there, with the United States saying: “Russia does not care about these risks.”
“If he did, he would not continue to forcibly control the plant,” Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council, which met at the initiative of the United States and Slovenia.
Russia, for its part, said Ukraine was to blame for the attacks.
“The IAEA report does not indicate which side is behind the attacks,” said Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. “We know very well who he is.”
“In recent months, these attacks have not only resumed,” Nebenzia said, “but have intensified significantly.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, called the attacks “a well-planned false flag operation by the Russian Federation”, which he claimed Russia had designed to distract the world from its neighbor’s invasion.
The Zaporizhzhia facility is one of the 10 largest nuclear power plants in the world. Fighting in the southern part of Ukraine, where it is located, has raised the specter of a possible nuclear disaster like Chernobyl in 1986, where a reactor exploded and spewed deadly radiation across a vast area.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine have been able to make significant progress along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line that runs through eastern and southern Ukraine in recent months. Drones, artillery and missiles have played an important role in what has become a war of attrition.
Russia and Ukraine have frequently exchanged accusations over the Zaporizhzhia plant.
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The most recent attacks did not compromise the facility, which is designed to withstand a commercial airliner crashing into it, the IAEA said.
The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified personnel to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety measures.
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