KYIV: UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi has delayed a planned trip to Ukraine’s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant until it is safer to travel, a senior Ukrainian government official said on Wednesday.
Grossi had been expected to visit the facility on Wednesday following talks in Kyiv on Tuesday, but a diplomatic source said the visit would be delayed by “some hours.” Russian news agency Interfax quoted a Russian-installed local official as saying Grossi would visit the plant on Thursday.
“He’s waiting to be able to travel safely,” said the senior Ukrainian government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official did not say when Grossi would arrive at the plant in southeastern Ukraine.
Moscow and Kyiv have reported heavy fighting in southern and eastern Ukraine since the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in Kyiv on Tuesday that he was “very concerned” that the nuclear plant could be caught in Ukraine’s counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory.
The IAEA said on Sunday it needed access to a site near the Zaporizhzhia plant to check water levels after the nearby reservoir lost much of its water because of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam downstream.
Both sides have accused each other of sabotaging the dam, leading to catastrophic flooding. Western countries say they are still gathering evidence but believe Ukraine would have had no reason to inflict such a disaster on itself.
Russian forces captured the hydroelectric dam and the nuclear plant in southern Ukraine shortly after their February 2022 invasion.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant uses a cooling pond to keep its six reactors from potentially disastrous overheating.
Ukraine’s nuclear energy company said on Tuesday the level of the pond was stable and that the water was high enough.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, where he had talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Grossi said there was no immediate danger but that it was a “serious situation.” He said his visit to the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, would provide a more accurate assessment of the risk.
The Kakhovka reservoir was normally used to refill the pond but cannot do so now because of its falling water level, Ukrainian nuclear authorities have said.
Instead, the pond, which is separated from the reservoir, can be replenished using deep underground wells, they said.
UN nuclear chief delays visit to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
https://arab.news/4p6wz
UN nuclear chief delays visit to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
- Rafael Grossi had been expected to visit the facility on Wednesday following talks in Kyiv
- UN nuclear agency needs access to a site near the Zaporizhzhia plant to check water levels
France honors fallen soldiers in Afghanistan after Trump’s false claim about NATO troops
- In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, Trump on Thursday claimed that non-US NATO troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan
PARIS: A senior French government official said Monday the memory of the French soldiers who died in Afghanistan should not be tarnished following US President Donald Trump’s false assertion that troops from non-US NATO countries avoided the front line during that war.
Alice Rufo, the minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, laid a wreath at a monument in downtown Paris dedicated to those who died for France in overseas operations. Speaking to reporters, Rufo said the ceremony had not been planned until the weekend, adding that it was crucial to show that “we do not accept that their memory be insulted.”
In October 2001, nearly a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, the US led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy Al-Qaeda, which had used the country as its base, and the group’s Taliban hosts.
Alongside the US were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose mutual-defense mandate had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington. In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, Trump on Thursday claimed that non-US NATO troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan.
Ninety French soldiers died in the conflict.
“At such a moment, it is symbolically important to be there for their families, for their memory, and to remind everyone of the sacrifice they made on the front line,” Rufo said.
After his comments caused an outcry, Trump appeared to backpedal and heaped praise on the British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. He had no words for other troops, though.
“I have seen the statements, in particular from veterans’ associations, their outrage, their anger, and their sadness,” Rufo said, adding that trans-Atlantic solidarity should prevail over polemics.
“You know, there is a brotherhood of arms between Americans, Britons, and French soldiers when we go into combat.”
