Ukraine invites UN peacekeepers to nuclear power plant
2023.01.04 09:43
Ukraine invites UN peacekeepers to nuclear power plant
Budrigannews.com – Ukraine believes the Unified Countries should send peacekeepers to the Zaporizhzhia thermal energy station even without an arrangement with Russia to lay out a security zone there, the top of Ukraine’s state atomic power organization said.
Since September, Ukraine has requested United Nations peacekeepers at the location. However, this was the first time a nuclear official from Ukraine had publicly suggested that peacekeepers should be deployed at the plant, which Russia took control of shortly after its February 24 invasion.
The repeated shelling and power outages at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, have raised fears of a radioactive catastrophe. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had hoped to mediate an agreement between Russia and Ukraine on a safety zone by January. Ukraine and Russia share blame for the bombardment.
The absence of a deal necessitates the deployment of peacekeepers by the United Nations Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member, according to Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom.
In an online interview from his office in Kyiv on Tuesday, Kotin told Reuters, “The problem is there is no solution (at the level of IAEA).” The procedure is not proceeding. He stated, “We would propose taking this issue to the next level.”
The possibilities were bleak. Any peacekeeping resolution approved by the Security Council could be vetoed by Russia. However, Kotin stated that doing so would make people more aware of Moscow’s actions.
He said that putting an end to Russian control of the plant would require a peacekeeping force. The absence of a safety zone, on the other hand, could make it more difficult to define the boundaries of a peacekeeping mission’s area of control, which could put peacekeepers in danger.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a declaration moving the plant from Energoatom to an auxiliary of Russia’s Rosatom, a move Kyiv expressed added up to burglary.
According to Kotin, officials from Ukraine will discuss how to present the issue of peacekeepers to the Security Council in an internal meeting on Wednesday.
According to Kotin, Russia compelled 1,500 Ukrainian workers at Zaporizhzhia to sign contracts stating that they now work for a Rosatom unit. The plant employs approximately 6,000 people, compared to 11,000 prior to the war. According to Kotin, non-operating positions were held by the remaining 10% of the plant’s Ukrainian employees who signed contracts.
Without careful maintenance, shutdowns can be harmful to nuclear plants, and Kotin was concerned that Russia’s activities might cause a breakdown in communication between Energoatom staff and the Zaporizhzhia plant.
