The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Zaporizhia NPP: Ukraine-Russia dispute in light of 'suicidal' nuclear disaster

2022-08-19T17:30:05.962Z


Zaporizhia NPP: Ukraine-Russia dispute in light of 'suicidal' nuclear disaster Created: 08/19/2022, 19:14 By: Andreas Schmid The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant: Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin (here in an archive photo from 2019) throw accusations at each other. © IMAGO/Zuma Wire//Ian Langsdon/EPA Pool/AP/dpa (montage) Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of firing at the Zaporizhia nuc


Zaporizhia NPP: Ukraine-Russia dispute in light of 'suicidal' nuclear disaster

Created: 08/19/2022, 19:14

By: Andreas Schmid

The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant: Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin (here in an archive photo from 2019) throw accusations at each other.

© IMAGO/Zuma Wire//Ian Langsdon/EPA Pool/AP/dpa (montage)

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of firing at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

Both warn of a catastrophe - but do not contribute to relaxation.

Enerhodar/Zaporischschja – Kyiv, Bucha, Mariupol: in the Ukraine war, which has been going on for almost six months now, certain places and regions regularly advance to become the military centers of the Russian invasion.

In August 2022, much of the escalating Ukraine conflict revolves around the small town of Enerhodar.

There is the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the most powerful in Europe.

It is currently being shot at again and again.

"Suicidal" argument: shelling of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

Russia has been occupying the nuclear power plant since March.

The piles are located on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, not far from the cities of Nikopol and Zaporizhia.

Both could not be taken by Russia.

Is the Kremlin taking ownership of the nuclear power plant?

The accusation, voiced primarily by Ukraine, is that Russia is shooting from the nuclear power plant in the direction of Ukraine.

Which, in turn, could not fire back, otherwise there would be a nuclear catastrophe.

So much for the previous argument, now the situation threatens to escalate.

In fact, the piles of the nuclear power plant have already been shot at several times.

By whom is unclear.

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for this.

Both warring parties also accused each other on Thursday of planning an attack for Friday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the shelling of the nuclear power plant as "suicidal".

At a tripartite summit with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Turkey's head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, he called for a demilitarized zone around the nuclear facility.

Zelenskyj also put the pressure on – Russia, however, rejected the negotiations.

The United Nations must ensure the security of this strategic object, its demilitarization and its complete liberation from Russian troops.

Zelenskyy on Thursday in the direction of the UN with a view of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant

Russia rejects nuclear power plant claims: Erdogan speaks of "more Chernobyl"

Russia would not respond to the demands, the Kremlin said before the tripartite summit on Thursday.

The nuclear power plant would be safer if controlled by Russia, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The safety of the nuclear power plant is currently the decisive issue.

Memories of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 boil over.

"We are concerned," said Erdogan on the sidelines of the talks on Thursday.

"We don't want any more Chernobyl." However, the three-way meeting in Lviv in western Ukraine did not cause much relaxation.

This is also due to new statements by the Kremlin.

Clean-up work after the Chernobyl reactor disaster.

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant experienced a super meltdown.

The reactor jacket explodes, debris and radioactive material are thrown outwards, a nuclear cloud spreads over large parts of Europe.

© dpa/archive via picture alliance

Zaporizhia nuclear power plant: Moscow and Kyiv warn of catastrophe

On Friday, Russia again warned of a disaster at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

The Ukrainian military is shelling the nuclear plant with US-supplied weapons, Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

"If a catastrophe occurs, the consequences will be felt in all corners of the world." Patrushev did not say that without the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine there would be no danger at all for Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

also read

Putin's Duma chief rumbles against the US government - "has condemned Europe to hunger, cold and isolation"

China's major maneuvers in the immediate vicinity of Taiwan: experts fear that Beijing will create new facts

Kyiv, in turn, warned of renewed Russian provocations.

The Ukrainian military intelligence service reported on Thursday evening that Russia was planning acts of sabotage at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant on Friday.

A feared shelling of the kiln did not materialize at first.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has already warned of the "very real danger of a nuclear catastrophe".

Ukraine negotiations about nuclear power plant Zaporizhia: Putin suddenly open?

The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is currently the sticking point in possible negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

The current war diplomacy, however, always comes with threats.

The Ukrainian power plant operator Energoatom said: "There is information that the Russian occupiers are planning to stop the operation of the reactors and cut them off from the supply lines of the Ukrainian energy system."

Another point of contention is nuclear power plant access for an independent panel of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Russia rejected this for a long time with the security argument, before Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin was surprisingly open on Friday afternoon.

After talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Putin spoke out in favor of an inspection of the reactors by representatives of the atomic energy agency.

The Kremlin announced that Russia would provide the “necessary assistance”.

However, it remains unclear how the experts could get to the work.

Russia does not want to evacuate the areas around the nuclear power plant that it conquered during the course of the war, as requested by the UN.

Green politician Jürgen Trittin said on Friday: "The mixture of truths, half-truths and war propaganda can only be clarified if there is independent control on site." A mixture that will probably continue to exist.

(as)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-08-19

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.