Ukraine not in favor of IAEA’s visit to Russian-occupied nuclear plant

• IAEA director-general announces they are preparing an expedition to the Russian-occupied nuclear plant.
• The country requested the visit: Grossi.
• Russian military seized a factory in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine stated on Tuesday that it opposes any visit by the head of the United Nations’ nuclear inspector to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant while it is under Russian administration.

Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated on Monday that his organization was organizing an expert expedition to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe and currently held by Russian soldiers.

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Grossi stated on Twitter that the visit had been “requested” by Ukraine.

Energoatom on Tuesday, however, accused Grossi of lying and stated that the visit was not authorized.

“Ukraine did not invite Grossi to visit the Zaporizhzhia plant and refused to let him make such a visit in the past. The visit to the plant will only become possible when Ukraine takes back control of the site,” Energoatom wrote on Telegram.

“IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi is lying again,” Energoatom said.

“We consider this declaration a new attempt to gain access to the Zaporizhzhia power plant to legitimize the presence of the occupiers and approve their actions.”

After the Russians gained control of the site in March, contact between the plant and the IAEA was disrupted, and the IAEA will get server data when the Ukrainian operator resumes control.

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Russia warned on May 19 to shut the war-torn country off from the Zaporizhzhia plant if Kyiv did not pay Moscow for the produced electricity.

In 2021, far before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia facility produced 20 percent of Ukraine’s annual electricity and about half of the country’s nuclear energy.

Russian military seized control of the factory in southern Ukraine at the start of March, shortly after Moscow’s incursion on February 24.