The fourteen inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) finally arrived yesterday, in the early afternoon, at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, and some of them will perhaps stay "until Sunday or Monday" supervising the installation, according to its director, Rafael Grossi. This is the most difficult mission of the agency linked to the United Nations: to record the security conditions of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in a situation of war, with artillery shells affecting not only its surroundings but the plant itself. Nothing like this had ever happened in history.
After a month of sporadic bombing and tensions over the possibility of a nuclear disaster, the day the IAEA mission got underway can be considered one of the worst to date. At dawn, the plant's No. 5 reactor had to be shut down due to a mortar attack, according to the Ukrainian state-owned company Enerhoatom, which owns the plant. A power line was also affected. That left the facility with only one of its six reactors running, as the rest have been taken offline in recent weeks. On August 25, the plant was completely disconnected from the electrical grid, but two reactors, 5 and 6, resumed operation later.
Enerhoatom yesterday accused Russian forces of carrying out a false flag attack to make believe that it is the Ukrainians who are bombing. Given that the Russian army has occupied the plant since March, that would be the only plausible explanation from the Ukrainian side. The same could be said of the city of Enerhodar, just three kilometers away, where at least one residential building was hit by artillery. Zaporizhia's pro-Russian governor, Yevgeny Balitsky, said three civilians had been killed and five wounded. Video images broadcast on Telegram yesterday showed the impacts and the flight of Russian planes and helicopters apparently in the area. The Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of having launched a sabotage operation at six in the morning consisting of two groups of commandos – some 60 soldiers in total – who would have crossed the Dnieper River in seven speedboats and landed three kilometers from the plant with the aim of seizing it. Forty of the Ukrainian soldiers were killed, another local Russian official, Vladimir Rogov, said. Of course, none of these versions could be confirmed or contrasted, as usual.
However, the IAEA inspectors, who left the city of Zaporizhia in the morning, were able to attest to explosions as they approached the so-called "grey zone" between the Ukrainian and Russian forces. Instead of crossing the Dnieper River directly to reach the plant, the convoy – made up of white United Nations vehicles – made the journey by land and was detained for three hours shortly after leaving, at a Ukrainian military checkpoint in the Andriivka sector. The IAEA director himself, the Argentine Rafael Grossi, had to negotiate the continuity of the trip. The head of the Ukrainian administration of the Zaporizhia region, Olexander Staruj, said that the Russians had bombed the previously agreed route.
Just before departure, Grossi declared that "there has been increasing military activity, this morning and until very recently, but evaluating the pros and cons, and having come this far, we are not going to stop" because "we believe that there is a minimum of conditions.
Grossi said that "I am going to consider the possibility of establishing a continued presence of the IAEA in the plant, which I believe is essential to stabilize the situation and have reliable, impartial and regular data." In principle, he clarified, "this first segment will take a few days." Late yesterday afternoon, several of the UN vehicles were leaving the facility, according to the Russian Interfax agency. Rafael Grossi told Russian media that “for a few hours, we have been able to gather a lot of information; I have seen the main thing I needed to see.” Shortly after, he stated that the IAEA "stays" at the plant and the director of Enerhoatom, Petró Kotin, pointed out that the permanence of this group -five people- will be three days, while Grossi and the rest left the territory yesterday occupied by Russian forces. The inspectors hope to get all the necessary information from the plant's Ukrainian employees, who work under the strict supervision of the Russian occupiers, which would not make their job any easier in principle.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, affirmed yesterday, regarding the visit of the inspectors, that they "say that they do not have a mandate to determine which side is guilty - of the bombings - but, of course, they will be shown all indications that it was Ukrainian bombing.” And it added: “In the event of new attempts by Kyiv to disrupt its work with bombing or sabotage, the entire responsibility for the consequences will fall entirely on the Zelensky regime – the Ukrainian president – and on those who run it and its support group in West".
