UN chief condemns Russian strikes on Ukraine, warns of nuclear security threat | EUROtoday

In a press release issued by his spokesperson, António Guterres expressed alarm over the damaging escalation and the rising toll on civilians.

He reiterated that assaults in opposition to civilians and significant infrastructure are prohibited underneath worldwide regulation and known as for an instantaneous and unconditional ceasefire.

“These strikes disrupted the power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, once again underlining the ongoing risks to nuclear safety,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric stated.

“The Secretary-General reiterates his call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine as a first step towards a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace, in line with the UN Charter, international law and relevant UN resolutions.”

Fragile state of affairs

The airstrikes on Friday severed the nuclear plant’s final exterior energy connection, forcing the ZNPP to depend on emergency diesel turbines for greater than three hours, in response to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Power was ultimately restored, however the incident marked the ninth time the plant has misplaced all off-site electrical energy because the full-scale invasion started in 2022.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the nuclear watchdog, warned that the state of affairs stays extraordinarily fragile.

“What was once virtually unimaginable – that a major nuclear power plant would repeatedly lose all of its external power connections – has unfortunately become a common occurrence,” he stated.

Nuclear security deterioration

Located in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia plant is the most important nuclear energy facility in Europe. Although its six reactors have been in chilly shutdown since 2024, they nonetheless require electrical energy to chill reactor cores and spent gas swimming pools to stop overheating and potential radioactive launch.

During the blackout, 18 diesel turbines had been activated to take care of vital cooling features. The plant has sufficient diesel on web site for a minimum of ten days, with contingency plans in place to safe additional provides if wanted, IAEA reported.

The ZNPP has change into dramatically extra susceptible because the struggle started. Prior to the battle, it had entry to 10 exterior energy traces; it now depends on only one.

IAEA groups stay based mostly on the web site and proceed to observe the state of affairs carefully.