LAST UPDATE | 27 Aug 2022

UKRAINE AND RUSSIA have traded fresh accusations of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as its operator warned of a radioactive leak risk at the atomic facility.

The Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian troops since the opening of the invasion.

Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly swapped allegations over rocket attacks in the vicinity of the plant – Europe’s largest – located in the city of Energodar.

On Saturday operator Energoatom said Russian troops “repeatedly shelled” it over the past day.

Russia’s defence ministry issued a counter-claim that Ukraine’s troops were responsible for a salvo of 17 shells landing on the site.

“As a result of periodic shelling, the infrastructure of the station has been damaged, there are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the fire hazard is high,” Energoatom said on Telegram.

The agency said that as of midday Saturday (0900 GMT) the plant “operates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards”.

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukrainian forces “shelled the territory of the station three times” from the town of Marganets across the Dnipro River.

In a communique the ministry accused Kyiv of “nuclear terrorism” and said shells landed near areas storing fresh nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.

Nevertheless radiation levels at the plant “remain normal” the ministry said.

Russia blocks non-proliferation treaty
Meanwhile, Russia has prevented the adoption of a joint declaration following a four-week UN conference on a nuclear disarmament treaty, with Moscow denouncing what it said were “political” aspects of the text.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which 191 signatories review every five years, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament and promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The nations have been gathered at UN headquarters in New York since 1 August participating in a month of negotiations, including a final session that was postponed for several hours yesterday.

In the end, the conference’s president, Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, said it was “not in a position to achieve agreement” after Russia took issue with the text.

Russian representative Igor Vishnevetsky said the draft final text, which was more than 30 pages long, lacked “balance.”

“Our delegation has one key objection on some paragraphs which are blatantly political in nature,” he said, adding that Russia was not the only country to take issue with the text.

According to sources close to the negotiations, Russia was opposed in particular to paragraphs concerning the plant in Zaporizhzhia.

The latest draft text had expressed “grave concern” over military activities around Ukrainian power plants, including Zaporizhzhia, as well as over Ukraine’s loss of control of such sites and the negative impact on safety.

The signatories discussed a number of other hot-button topics during the conference, including Iran’s nuclear program and North Korean nuclear tests.

At the last review conference in 2015, the parties were also unable to reach an agreement on substantive issues.

At the opening of this year’s conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world faced “a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.”

“Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” Guterres said.

© AFP 2022