ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) – The UN’s atomic energy chief warned in a meeting Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the dangerous situation at Europe’s largest nuclear plant “is beyond repair.” ” because the incessant fighting in the area keeps the facility in danger of a disaster.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s six reactors have been shut down and are receiving the electricity they need to prevent a reactor meltdown through the only remaining power line. Sometimes it is necessary to switch to emergency diesel generators to operate essential cooling systems.
In a meeting with Zelenskyy in southern Ukraine covered exclusively by The Associated Press, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation at the plant remains tense due to the heavy military presence around it. and a blackout that recently hit the facility, something that has happened repeatedly since Russian forces took it over last year.
Grossi plans to visit the plant this week for the second time since the Russian invasion 13 months ago. The Vienna-based agency has had staff permanently deployed at the plant since Grossi’s last visit in September.
Earlier this month, fighting disrupted the plant’s power supply for half a day, forcing staff to activate backup generators.
Grossi expressed alarm at that development.
“Every time we roll the dice,” he told his agency at the time. “And if we let this go on from time to time, then one day our luck will run out.”
Grossi and Zelenskyy met in the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is in Ukrainian-held territory, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the nuclear plant of the same name.
The IAEA said in January it was deploying teams of experts to all four nuclear powers in Ukraine plants to reduce the risk of accidents, including the now-closed Chernobyl plant whose deadly nuclear accident in 1986 spread across much of Europe.
Grossi emphasized that his seventh trip to Ukraine emphasizes his commitment and support for “as far as necessary.”
Also attending the meeting were other IAEA officials, the head of the president’s office, Andriy Yermak, and the head of the nuclear operator Energoatom, Petro Kotin.
While in Zaporizhzhia, Zelenskyy also inspected military positions in the partially-occupied province and awarded military honors to soldiers. He visited wounded soldiers at a hospital and an apartment building that Kyiv said had been hit by a missile on Wednesday, killing at least one person and injuring more than 30.
Residents are still shocked by the experience.
“It’s scary. I cannot find the words to tell you,” said Hanna Budkova, 39, who was in a busy playground in front of the apartment block with her almost 2-year-old daughter. “I’m afraid to go anywhere near windows.”
Elsewhere, two people were killed and 29 wounded on Monday when Russian forces attacked the city of Sloviansk, in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region, officials said.
Video footage of the aftermath shows destroyed residential buildings, debris on the streets and cars on fire. Zelenskyy described the attack as “terrorism.”
Russia denies targeting residential areas even as artillery and rocket strikes hit Ukrainian apartments and civilian infrastructure daily during the war.
The Sloviansk attack followed a typical pattern of long-range shelling adopted by Kremlin forces, especially in recent months as the fighting became deadlocked during the winter.
In the eastern region of Donetsk, about 10 cities and villages have been shelled by Russian forces in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian president’s office reported.
Russian missiles hit the city of Avdiivka, damaging residential buildings, a hotel and a courthouse, it said.
Avdiivka Mayor Vitali Barabash said that utility companies were evacuated from the front-line city, because it was “like a scene from post-apocalyptic movies.”
Attacks also intensified in the Zaporizhzhia regionwhere 14 settlements on the front line were shot, the authorities said.
In the partially occupied Kherson region, the Ukrainian-controlled part of the province was bombed 20 times, injuring four people, the presidential office said.
Several explosions rocked the Russian-held town of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, damaging a building where Russian security forces are quartered, said exiled mayor-elect Ivan Fyodorov. Russian-installed authorities said “artillery shelling” in Melitopol partially destroyed a vocational school building, destroyed several other buildings and injured four people.
Earlier, Zelenskyy met in Kyiv with British actor Orlando Bloom, according to Yermak, the head of the president’s office. Bloom, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, came over the weekend and visited its suburb of Irpin.
In his meeting with Zelenskyy, Bloom said he was “struck by the courage and strength of the Ukrainians, who despite the war remained strong,” Yermak wrote.
Bloom “will support projects to provide humanitarian aid and restore infrastructure, focused on ensuring the interests of children in Ukraine,” the official said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday in a meeting in the Netherlands that Germany has fulfilled the promised delivery of 18 advanced Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. Canada and Poland also sent such tanks to Ukraine.
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It corrected that the Zaporizhzhia plant is not currently providing power.
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