President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi on the eve of his next visit to the Zaporizhzhia NPP temporarily occupied by Russia.
The Head of State thanked Rafael Grossi and his team for their tenth visit to our country during the work of the IAEA monitoring mission at the temporarily occupied Ukrainian plant.
“I am grateful for the IAEA’s two years of work at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. We support the Agency's continued monitoring of the situation at the plant,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
The President also briefed his interlocutor on the consequences of the massive Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure with ballistic and cruise missiles, along with kamikaze drones, which led to the temporary disconnection of NPP units from the grid and a reduction in their capacity.
“The shelling of critical infrastructure by the Russian Federation is the largest threat to the safe operation of nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It primarily affects ordinary people,” the Head of State emphasized.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the improvement of nuclear safety in Ukraine, particularly in the context of the inadmissibility of shelling Ukrainian NPPs and other energy facilities. A stable external power supply is critical for the safety of nuclear power plants.
The parties agreed on the need to extend the mandate of the current IAEA monitoring missions to nuclear power plants in Ukraine in order to ensure continuous monitoring not only of the condition of nuclear power plants, but also of substations critical for their operation.
As for further technical assistance to our country, the IAEA also assured of its support for the construction of new nuclear power units in Ukraine.