Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday informed UN nuclear company chief Rafael Grossi he was “open to dialogue” on Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant in territory managed by Moscow’s forces in southern Ukraine.
In televised feedback with Grossi forward of their assembly in Saint Petersburg, Putin informed the IAEA chief he was “prepared to debate all problems with mutual curiosity or trigger for concern, for instance, concerning the state of affairs across the Zaporizhzhia energy plant” and stated he was “open to this dialogue.”
An announcement by the IAEA launched after the assembly stated that Grossi was resulting from meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv “later this week” for additional talks concerning Europe’s greatest nuclear energy plant.
Grossi had met Zelensky final week for discussions on organising a nuclear security and safety zone round Ukraine’s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant.
In latest weeks, Grossi had been “partaking in intense consultations with each Ukraine and the Russian Federation to agree and implement” such a zone “as quickly as attainable,” the IAEA assertion stated.
In line with Grossi, the state of affairs across the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant has “turn out to be more and more harmful, precarious and difficult,” with frequent army assaults posing threats to nuclear security and safety.
“We are able to’t afford to lose any extra time. The stakes are excessive,” Grossi stated, including that every little thing wanted to be completed to keep away from a nuclear accident.
Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame for months over shelling close to the Russian-held facility that sparked fears of a nuclear catastrophe.
