the ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyaccused on Tuesday Russia of having placed the world “on the verge of catastrophe” after occupying the Chernobyl nuclear power plant at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
“The world was once again on the verge of catastrophe, because for the Russian army, the Chernobyl zone and the Chernobyl plant constituted a normal territory of military operations,” Zelensky said during a joint press conference in kyiv with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.
“No country, since 1986, has posed such a large-scale threat to nuclear security in Europe and the world as Russia has since February 24,” he added.
Grossi, for his part, told reporters that his job was to ensure that “the tragedy of war was not increased by a nuclear accident“.
He also assured that there will be “a special job dedicated to the restoration, the recovery of all the capacities there and the infrastructure that was damaged in recent weeks.”
Russian troops occupied the Chernobyl facility on February 24, the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The occupation lasted until the end of March and caused great global concern about the risk of radioactivity leaks.
the center of Chernobyl It was the site of the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history in 1986.
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