Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Russian army holds the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant as «hostage», and its safety cannot be guaranteed as long as the Russians are there, writes Reuters.
The Russian army captured Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in the first weeks of the occupation and has shown no signs of liberating it. Zelensky said that this situation is a disaster in the history of nuclear power and suggested that the
Russian presence at the NPP is «blackmail with radiation».
The Ukrainian president’s comments came after a meeting with the director general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi. The two officials met at the Dnipro hydroelectric power station.
Russia and Ukraine regularly accuse each other of shelling the Zaporizhia NPP. The fighting around it and the possible lack of water for cooling equipment raise concerns about the threat of a nuclear disaster. A team of IAEA staff has been at the NPP since September, and Kyiv has accused Moscow of using scientists as shields for soldiers and military equipment.
Grossi has repeatedly called for creating a safety zone around the NPP
and will visit Zaporizhzhia again this week. He has been trying to build talks with both sides but indicated in January that they were becoming increasingly difficult.
Military experts believe that the Ukrainian counterattack could begin in April-May when the weather conditions will have improved and more military equipment, including Leopard and Challenger tanks, will have arrived in the country. The German Defense Ministry reported on Monday, the 27th of March, that 18 Leopard 2 tanks have already been delivered to Ukraine.
Despite the Russian winter offensive, the front line in Ukraine has been virtually motionless for more than four months. Ukrainian forces are trying to thin the Russian ranks before launching a counterattack. The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary group fighting alongside the Russian regular army in eastern Ukraine, has suffered severe losses and is looking for new fighters. In the north-eastern part of Moscow,
a huge advertising poster has appeared on an office building, inviting to add to the Wagner group.
It shows the Wagner group logo, a masked soldier with a gun, and the slogans «Join the winning team!» and «Together we will win!».
The Russian army is focusing its attacks on Avdiivka this week, while the Ukrainian general has informed that his forces are planning the next move.
Read also: NATO condemns Putin’s nuclear tactics; Russia shells Avdiivka