United Nations nuclear chief Rafael Grossi has delayed a trip to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station for security reasons as both sides reported heavy fighting in southern Ukraine.
Grossi had been expected to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine on Wednesday following talks in Kyiv on Tuesday but Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said the trip had been pushed back, possibly by days.
“Grossi is in Ukraine. The issue of his visit to the ZNPP should be resolved in the next few days,” Galushchenko was quoted as saying by Interfax Ukraine news agency.
“I cannot assess the situation – there are hostilities going on and the military is assessing the situation.”
A diplomatic source had earlier said security checks were being made and Grossi’s trip was expected to take place soon.
Russian news agency Interfax quoted a Russian-installed local official as saying Grossi would visit on Thursday.
Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in Kyiv on Tuesday that he was “very concerned” that the nuclear plant could be caught up in a Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory.
The IAEA said on Sunday it needed access to a site near the Zaporizhzhia plant to check water levels after the nearby reservoir lost much of its water because of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam downstream on the Dnipro River.
Satellite images from June 13 confirmed a sharp drop in the level of the Dnipro since the dam was destroyed.
Russian forces captured the hydroelectric dam and the nuclear plant in southern Ukraine shortly after their February 2022 invasion.
The plant uses a cooling pond to keep its six reactors from potentially disastrous overheating.
The Kakhovka reservoir was normally used to refill the pond but cannot do so now because of its falling water level, Ukrainian nuclear authorities have said.
Instead, the pond, which is separated from the reservoir, can be replenished using deep underground wells, they said.
Rescue efforts continue following the breach of the Kakhovka dam and a Red Cross official expressed concerns about the effects far beyond the region immediately affected.
Hundreds of kilometres to the northeast, water shortages are likely to affect hundreds of thousands of people as a result of the drop in the level of the reservoir, the head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross Jurg Eglin said in the Kherson region.
Upstream “there will be massive needs in days and months to come,” Eglin said, pointing to drinking water and agricultural regions alike.
He said it was unclear how fields would be irrigated in the future, and what the dam burst will mean for industries reliant on water.
The ICRC brought pumps and materials for drinking water treatment to the flooded areas and aims to reach the left bank of the Dnipro River, which is occupied by Russian forces.
Tens of thousands of people are likewise also affected in that area too.
with DPA