Steph Deschamps / August 7, 2022
The European Union condemns the irresponsible violation of nuclear safety rules by Russia with the military activities carried out around the Ukrainian power plant of Zaporizhia, said Saturday the head of European diplomacy Josep Borell.
The EU condemns Russia's military activities around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. This is a serious and irresponsible violation of nuclear safety rules and a new example of Russia's disregard for international norms, he accused in a message on his Twitter account.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russian army on Friday of having struck twice at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the south, even though Moscow has controlled this territory since the beginning of the invasion.
The Russian military has claimed that Ukrainian forces were behind the strikes, which caused a fire that has since been extinguished.
Any bombing of this site is a brazen crime, an act of terror. Russia must bear responsibility for the very fact of creating a threat to a nuclear power plant, he said.
A high-voltage line was damaged in the attack, causing one of the plant's reactors to shut down.
At the time of the seizure of the plant in March, the Russian military had opened fire on buildings at the site, raising the risk of a major nuclear accident.