The surprise is that there is none. In the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the experts who visited the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia are alarmist about the situation in the south of the country and speak of an untenable situation.
- Ukrainian nuclear operator in favor of sending peacekeepers to Zaporizhia
“Deploying the peacekeeping contingent and taking out the Russian soldiers can be one of the ways to create the security zone at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” Petro Kotin, the head of the public operator, told television on Wednesday. Energoatom, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine agency. His remarks come the day after the call by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to create a “safety zone” to prevent a nuclear accident at the plant where the situation is “untenable” due to the bombings.
“Sending the peacekeeping contingent to the compound of the plant, to Energodar (the city in which it is located, editor’s note) and to nearby territories requires diplomatic efforts on the part of the United Nations,” he said. he added. Russian troops took control of the plant in early March. Its site is subjected to bombardments for which kyiv and Moscow reject responsibility.
- Zaporizhia: the IAEA considers it “urgent to take measures” to protect the plant
“There is an urgent need to take action,” said the UN agency in its report released on Tuesday. “The bombardments on the site and in the surrounding area must stop immediately to avoid causing further damage to the installations”, she insisted, underlining “the extremely stressful conditions” in which the personnel of the factory work, under the control of the Russian military.
The two countries at war accuse each other of strikes on the enclosure, which makes a delicate conciliation. The publication of the conclusions of the report by the team led by General Manager Rafael Grossi comes the day after the disconnection of the last reactor in operation in this complex. Both sides welcomed the update of the text seeing in the different developments the matter justifying their mutual accusations. However, Russia was surprised by “a number of question marks” that the report would contain. “We have requested these clarifications from the Director General of the IAEA,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Russian agency Interfax on Wednesday morning.
“The IAEA has managed to produce a very comprehensive report in a short time”, welcomes Ludovic Dupin, information director of the French Nuclear Energy Company (SFEN), who returned for L’Express on the points highlights of the document. The agency’s experts were able to observe the presence of military vehicles in the enclosure, near the reactors, which is a major violation of nuclear safety rules because it promotes congestion. Management employees are understaffed. The breakdown of equipment supplies to the plant, on several occasions, is also worrying. So many elements that remind us that the situation is still critical.
- For Putin, it is “impossible to isolate Russia”
“No matter how much some would like to isolate Russia, it is impossible to do so,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (September 7th) at an Asian-focused economic forum in Vladivostok (Russian Far East). . The new coronavirus pandemic “has been replaced by new global challenges, which threaten the whole world. I mean the sanctions fever of the West”, he said.
The Russian president denounced “the stubborn refusal of the Western elites to see the facts” and “the elusive domination of the United States” in the implementation of heavy sanctions against Russia following the offensive carried out in Ukraine since the end of February. “Irreversible changes have taken place in the entire system of international relations,” he noted. Despite a shower of Western sanctions, the master of the Kremlin asserted that Russia “has lost nothing and will not lose anything”. “There is some polarization going on, but I think it will only be beneficial,” he added.
Vladimir Putin also denied the claim that Moscow is using energy as a ‘weapon’ against Europe, days after the cessation of Russian gas deliveries via the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Westerners “say that Russia uses energy as a weapon. Another nonsense! What weapon do we use? We supply as much as necessary according to the requests made” by the importing countries, he declared. Before launching: “give us a turbine and tomorrow we will relaunch Nord Stream.”
- Fighting bogs down in south and east
Before winter, Kherson imposed itself as the center of attention of the staffs of the two armies engaged in a slow face-to-face and heavy in human losses, in the south of Ukraine. The war enters a complex but fundamental tactical phase for the future. The Ukrainian army launched a major counter-offensive at the end of August to retake the city in southern Ukraine, occupied in mid-March by the Kremlin army. Combat does not gain much ground for engaged soldiers.
Simultaneously, on the borders of the Donbass, the fighting in the East continues and the advances of each army are equally minimal. The status quo is in order. Soldiers dread winter, mud and cold.
- Arrival to power of Liz Truss: the United Kingdom Ukraine relationship does not weaken
Having moved from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to managing the country’s affairs, Liz Truss knows the Ukrainian file well. She is one of the architects of the British response to the entry into the war of the Russian army on Ukrainian soil. Shortly after taking office, the new British Prime Minister pledged her “full support” to Ukraine on Tuesday during a call to President Volodymyr Zelensky. “She reaffirmed that Ukraine can count on the UK’s long-term support,” said a spokeswoman for the prime minister. The Ukrainian head of state welcomed the coordination with his counterpart to “increase the pressure” on Russia, in the seventh month of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since the February 24 Russian invasion. As early as the spring, London funneled military equipment, funds and training resources to beleaguered Kyiv forces, which are currently fighting battles in the south and east of the country. Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement tends more towards cooperation on the issue of the judicialization of war crimes.