Comment Diplomats sounded the alarm Monday over the bombing of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine, calling on Russian and Ukrainian forces to stop fighting and allow United Nations inspectors access to the site. A series of explosions hit the plant on Friday, causing some damage and partially disconnecting a reactor from Ukraine’s power grid — although no radioactive leak was detected. Russian forces control the complex, which has six nuclear reactors and is the largest of its kind in Europe, but Ukrainian personnel still operate the plant. UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday called any attack on a nuclear facility “suicidal” and called for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, to be allowed into Zaporizhia. “Russia must immediately stop occupying the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and withdraw its military equipment,” Poland’s foreign ministry said on Twitter on Monday. Over the weekend, IAEA director Raphael Grossi warned in a statement that the bombing raised the “very real risk of a nuclear catastrophe that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond.” UN watchdog warns of ‘nuclear disaster’ from Zaporizhia plant bombing Both Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the blasts. Ukraine has accused Russia of using the plant as a shield for artillery and rocket fire, while Russia says Ukraine has launched its own strikes in the area. Moscow said on Monday it would allow IAEA inspectors access to the site, but gave no details on how it would facilitate a visit. Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power — its 15 operating reactors, six of them in Zaporizhia, provide about half of the country’s electricity, according to the IAEA. A spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, also told the Washington Post that Kyiv supports a UN team coming to the nuclear facility “as soon as possible.” “We want the warden to come to the power plant and check the situation to verify how the nuclear materials are being used,” he said. “And we also want the agency to prepare a report on Russia’s nuclear safety violations in Zaporizhia.” But experts say the area will first need to be demilitarized so the monitors can enter safely. “In the middle of a war zone, the IAEA would need support from the UN Security Council and it would need military protection,” said John Wolfstahl, former senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council. Ukraine was the site of a nuclear meltdown in 1986 that sent a radioactive cloud over Europe. The specter of the Chernobyl disaster has loomed large amid the fighting around Zaporizhzhia. “Our country lived through Chernobyl and, understandably, every person and the country pays special attention to these issues,” Zaporizhzhia regional governor Oleksandr Starukh told state television, adding that “everything is more or less under control.” . However, over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the international community to hold Russia responsible for the attack. “There is no nation in the world that can feel safe when a terrorist state shoots up a nuclear power plant,” he said. “God save us. If something irreparable happens, no one will stop the wind that will spread the radioactive contamination.” Jennifer Hassan, Adam Taylor, Kostiantyn Khudov and John Hudson contributed to this report.
