FILE PHOTO: IAEA chief Grossi attends a press conference in Kyiv
Reuters: An extraordinary meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors called by Russia to discuss attacks on the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine is due to be held on Thursday, four diplomats said.
Drones attacked the plant, Europe's biggest, on Sunday, hitting one reactor building, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said, adding that nuclear safety was unaffected.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused one another of targeting Zaporizhzhia; both sides deny doing so.
Russia's Ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov said on Monday evening that his country had called an emergency Board meeting "with regard to the recent attacks and provocations of the armed forces of Ukraine against the #ZNPP".
The IAEA has yet to announce a meeting date. The Board's rules state that any country on it, including Russia, can call a meeting. Wednesday is a holiday at the United Nations in Vienna for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan.
The Board is the IAEA's top decision-making body that meets more than once a year. Russia is likely to again blame Ukraine for the recent drone strikes at Zaporizhzhia but it is unlikely to receive broad backing from the Board, which last month passed a resolution calling on Russia to withdraw from the plant.
The IAEA has not assigned blame for the attacks but demanded that they stop.
"Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must cease immediately," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Sunday.
In World
-
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the turnout in the first round of the country's presidential election was "lower than expected", semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
-
In a strategic move to bolster energy security for its Western neighbors, Ukraine is actively negotiating to facilitate the transit of natural gas from Azerbaijan to the European Union. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed these discussions during an interview with Bloomberg TV, highlighting the country’s efforts to maintain its crucial role as a transit nation while seeking alternatives to Russian gas supplies.
-
Viktor Orban has made a surprise visit to Kyiv where he urged Volodymyr Zelensky to accept the Kremlin’s offer of a ceasefire.
-
Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized the critical role of U.S. leadership in shaping global developments during a speech at the Brookings Institution on Monday. "We are at a pivotal moment," Blinken stated, highlighting the end of the post-Cold War era and the onset of a new period marked by great power rivalry and interconnected global challenges. "The diversity and complexity of these challenges and their interconnectedness are now higher than ever in the past 30 years of my involvement in foreign policy."
Leave a review