EU, several countries call on Russia to withdraw from ZNPP

This is stated in the EU's statement at a meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ukrinform reports.

"We will never recognise Russia’s illegal attempts to take ownership of a nuclear power plant of another country. Russia must withdraw all its troops, military vehicles, equipment and other personnel from the ZNPP and fully respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders," the statement reads.

The document emphasizes that the presence of Russian troops at the ZNPP and the presence of military vehicles in the machine rooms, as reported by the IAEA, "is unacceptable."

"The EU is deeply concerned about the conditions of the Ukrainian staff and calls for the immediate return of the workers who have been subject to reported forced disappearances. The insufficient number of personnel at the ZNPP, 70% of it without valid Ukrainian licences and unfamiliar with essential technical information and procedures of the control rooms, constitutes a serious risk. We insist that full control (over ZNPP - ed.) be handed back immediately to competent and authorised Ukrainian staff," the statement reads.

In addition, concerns are expressed that the instructions of the Ukrainian nuclear regulator to limit the operation of all six ZNPP units to a "cold shutdown" are being ignored by the occupation administration of the plant. Regular maintenance work is not being carried out.

The statement said that the IAEA mission at the plant has not been able to visit the open 330 kV switchgear of Zaporizhzhia TPP over the past 11 months, and the agency's experts have "still not been given timely and unrestricted access to all areas of the ZNPP of significance for nuclear safety and security."

The EU also called for not inviting Russian officials to events held under the auspices of the IAEA, given Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine.

The EU statement was joined by North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported, according to the IAEA, the Russian occupation administration of ZNPP is putting unit 5 into a "cold shutdown" state, where a leak of reagents from the first reactor circuit to the second occurred earlier.