Grossi: Very real risk of nuclear disaster in Ukraine

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, has warned of a “very real risk of a nuclear disaster” after reports of the shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzya nuclear power plant.

“I’m extremely concerned by the shelling […] at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond.” Grossi said in a statement.

Russia and Ukraine have been blaming each other for the attacks on the facility, which is operated by Ukrainian staff although it has been under Russian occupation for months.

“I strongly and urgently appeal to all parties to exercise the utmost restraint in the vicinity of this important nuclear facility, with its six reactors,” Grossi said in the statement, noting that “any military firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences.”