Ukraine's representative to the IAEA on Grossi's statement: Zaporizhzhya NPP and all occupied territories remain Ukrainian

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna Yuriy Vitrenko reported this to Ukrinform in a commentary, responding to the statement by IAEA Director General Grossi that the rotation of experts at the Zaporizhzhya NPP took place “exclusively through Russian territory.”

“Today, the IAEA leadership, under pressure from Russia, made a second serious mistake. The Zaporizhzhya NPP, like other regions temporarily occupied by Russia, were and will remain Ukrainian. Period,” Vitrenko emphasized.

According to him, the first mistake was the introduction of a new group of IAEA experts to the Zaporizhzhya NPP through the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine – “despite our multiple unofficial and official categorical warnings.”

“The second point is the assertion that the route of this uncoordinated rotation was “exclusively through the territory of Russia”. It is extremely surprising that we again need to remind ourselves of elementary things: the activities of international organizations on the sovereign territory of Ukraine, especially in the context of Russia's aggressive war, must be carried out exclusively in accordance with our national legislation, international law and the UN Charter. We demand that the IAEA leadership strictly adhere to this imperative,” said the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna.

As reported by Ukrinform, on Monday during a press conference in Vienna, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that the rotation of the agency's experts at the Zaporizhzhya NPP was carried out “exclusively through Russian territory” and this was caused by the need to protect the lives of the mission members.

On the eve, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by a number of IAEA employees as a result of Russian blackmail and systematic attempts to impose illegal and controversial mechanisms of activity on international organizations in the temporarily occupied territories.

It was noted that the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP is a specific example of such Russian blackmail. Russia has effectively forced IAEA personnel to remain at the plant without rotation for 80 days, significantly exceeding the planned period, exerting unprecedented psychological pressure on them in a high-risk zone.

Read also: IAEA rotation at Zaporizhzhya NPP is carried out through Russian-controlled territory for security reasons, Grossi claims

Ukraine has repeatedly offered a safe and legal rotation route through government-controlled territory. However, Moscow has systematically refused to provide the IAEA with security guarantees under these conditions. The Kremlin has deliberately blocked the safe passage of specialists through Ukrainian-controlled territory, forcing the Agency to agree to Russia’s terms.

Ukraine sent a note of protest to the IAEA leadership, in which it condemned the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country and warned against similar actions in the future.

Photo: Facebook/Yur Vitrenko