IAEA director after Zaporizhzhia visit: "The key things I needed to see, I saw"

IAEA’s delegation of inspectors reached the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant under Russian control.
Photo: Peter Klint
Photo: Peter Klint
BY RITZAU, TRANSLATED BY CHRISTOFFER ØSTERGAARD

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi told Russian journalists gathered at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine that his team of inspectors saw what they needed to see during the visit.

”We were able, in these few hours, to gather a lot, a lot of information. The key things I needed to see, I saw, and their explanations were very clear,” he said, according to Russian state-owned news agency Tass.

His statements have yet to be confirmed by media outside Russia.

Earlier Thursday, the IAEA delegation reached the nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control.

The 14 UN inspectors arrived after the warring parties had accused one another of opening fire in the area near the plant since Monday morning.

In order to reach the site, the delegation had to pass through areas under Ukrainian control, only to move into Russia-occupied areas near the Dnieper River.

Due the alleged fire fights near the nuclear power plant, the UN vehicles were heavily delayed.

Upon arriving, the inspectors spent several hours at the site, according to an on-scene Reuters journalist.

Russia claimed that Ukrainian saboteurs had tried to launch an assault against the nuclear power plants, but that Russian forces repelled the attack.

According to Tass, three of the so-called saboteurs were taken captive.

IAEA’s inspectors had to examine the nuclear power plant to ensure that hadn’t sustained any damages.

For some time, there have been fears that the situation could deteriorate and lead to a nuclear disaster.

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