Guterres asks Russia not to disconnect the Zaporizhia nuclear plant from the Ukrainian power grid

MADRID, 19 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has asked the Russian authorities this Friday not to disconnect the Zaporizhia nuclear plant from the national electricity grid after senior Russian officials threatened in recent days to shut down two of its reactors.

"Electricity from Zaporizhia is Ukrainian electricity, and it is necessary, especially during the winter for the Ukrainian people, and this principle must be fully respected," said Guterres during a visit to the Ukrainian port of Odessa, where he has supervised the resumption of exports. of Ukrainian grain, one of the most important diplomatic achievements of the war between Russia and Ukraine since its outbreak in late February.

Guterres has thus responded to the threats made by the commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense troops, Igor Kirillov, who warned on Thursday that the Russian forces could turn off reactors 5 and 6 of the nuclear power plant, "what that would lead to the closure of the plant", if the fighting continued in its vicinity.

kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of initiating these hostilities, as well as deliberately attacking the plant's facilities.

However, and as he has done on other occasions, the UN Secretary General has called for the withdrawal of all armed elements both from inside the plant, under Russian control, and from its surroundings. "The only thing certain is that if the plant were demilitarized, as we have proposed, this problem would have been solved", he has made it known.

Guterres has also referred to the difficult talks for the arrival in Zaporizhia of a team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear agency, currently paralyzed for security reasons, and about the itinerary to follow .

Russia has offered to transfer the experts but, as the Kremlin itself acknowledges, it is a delicate issue given that Ukraine could interpret the Russian management as an affront, as the plant is in territory occupied by Moscow. The IAEA has expressed interest in making this visit as soon as possible -- Moscow expects it to happen in early September -- but the UN Secretary General has expressed doubts given the intensity of the fighting.

In this regard, the UN Secretary General has insisted that the agency has authority as an "autonomous organization that has a very clear mandate", the ability to decide on the conditions of the mission, before emphasizing that the General Secretariat has the ability to "support the development of the mission", especially in terms of security, on a journey from kyiv to Zaporizhia.

"Decisions on this issue are decisions of the IAEA, with the consent of the parties, obviously, and with the consent of the Ukrainian government as well," he stressed.