UN Aug 16Delivering a mission of IAEA experts to the Zaporozhye NPP through Kyiv is unsafe, for this it would be necessary to cross the front line, Deputy Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Igor Vishnevetsky told reporters. Earlier, the official representative of the UN Secretary General Stefan Dujarric said that the organization is ready to facilitate the trip of experts IAEA to the Zaporizhzhya NPP through the capital of Ukraine, if Moscow and the Kyiv authorities agree to this. «Imagine what it means through Kyiv — this means that they will call at the Zaporozhye NPP through the front line. This is a huge risk, given that the Ukrainian armed forces are heterogeneous armed formations,» Vyshnevetsky explained. According to him, not only employees of the Ministry of Defense are fighting on the side of Kyiv, but representatives of the territorial defense, nationalist battalions that are not subordinate to the official department. «That is, these people can commit any provocation. Anything could happen if The IAEA delegation went across the front line. She would, for example, be fired at or something else would be done against her. And in order to pass it off as a Russian provocation, these people are ready for anything,» the diplomat said.The State Department said it had no data on high levels of radiation at ZAESVishnevetsky indicated that Russia was ready to provide a safe route, but the IAEA trip did not take place, and the proposal to send the organization's mission through Kyiv is puzzling. «Unfortunately, what the representative said UN, fully corresponds to what the Ukrainian representative said at a recent meeting of the UN Security Council. It was he who claimed that they have the shortest way of arrival — it is five kilometers across the front line. <…> This raises questions. This makes the visit to the plant, which we welcomed and were ready to assist him, is even more problematic,” Vyshnevetsky said. The Zaporozhye NPP is located on the left bank of the Dnieper, near the city of Energodar. This is the largest in terms of the number of power units (six) and the most powerful nuclear power plant in Europe. Since March, it has been under the protection of the Russian military. As emphasized in the Russian Foreign Ministry, this is justified from the point of view of preventing leaks of radioactive materials. Since the beginning of August, Ukrainian troops have stepped up shelling of nuclear power plants. According to Rogov, the servicemen of the 44th artillery brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine use guided missiles and Western-made shells. The shelling has already damaged the high-voltage line of the Kakhovskaya substation, the staff had to reduce the capacity of two power units. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, expressed concern about the shelling of the station. He plans to personally lead a mission that is to visit the nuclear power plant. In addition, last week the situation was discussed at a meeting of the UN Security Council. As Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia Dmitry Polyansky noted, none of its participants supported the Kyiv version of events. Russian forces in Ukraine
