Zelenskyy Calls for UN to Secure Ukraine Nuclear Plant

“There are no objective obstacles to prevent the IAEA mission from reaching the Zaporizhzhia NPP,” Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday in his daily address, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency by its initials.

“Russia must immediately and unconditionally allow IAEA representatives to the plant,” he said. However, he also added, “The one who organized nuclear blackmail certainly cannot be the ‘transporter’ of any such missions.”

“Russia must immediately and unconditionally allow IAEA representatives to the plant and also immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the territory of the plant. The world has the power to ensure this,” Zelenskyy said. “If it does not ensure this, we can simply throw the entire body of international documents on nuclear and radiation safety into the trash. Russia is destroying this international order.”

Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy met in the western Ukraine city of Lviv with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I held very substantive negotiations on many topics today with President of Turkey Erdogan. I am grateful to him for his unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state. We discussed defense, economic and energy cooperation,” Zelenskyy said. “I am grateful to Turkiye for its willingness to take under patronage the reconstruction of Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region. This is a mission for a truly powerful country. Today, the first step was taken -- an agreement on infrastructure was signed.”
Earlier in the day, Guterres called for the Zaporizhzhia power plant site to be “demilitarized,” with the withdrawal of military equipment and personnel.