Russia must end its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station to avert the threat of a disaster similar to the Chernobyl disaster, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the 37th anniversary of the accident.
Ukraine marked the 1986 catastrophe and honoured its victims on Wednesday, as senior aides to Mr Zelenskiy said allies were failing to deliver promised arms and ammunition to Kyiv’s forces. It was also announced that 44 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians had been freed in the latest prisoner swap with Russia.
“The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant left a huge scar on the whole world. A radiation leak turned a once comfortable and developed area into an exclusion zone,” Mr Zelenskiy said.
“Today, the 30km zone around the… plant remains a dangerous place with a high concentration of radiation.
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“Ukraine and the world paid a high price for eliminating the consequences of the disaster, and this continues today.
“We must do everything to ensure that the terrorist state has no chance to use nuclear power facilities to blackmail Ukraine and the entire world.”
Russian troops seized the biggest atomic power station in Europe, in the Zaporizhzhia region in southeast Ukraine, shortly after launching an all-out invasion of the country last February. The power station continues to be run by Ukrainian technicians overseen by Russian managers. Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of shelling the plant, which sits on the front line on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river.
Mr Zelenskiy spoke to Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has deployed a small monitoring team to the plant and repeatedly raised concerns over shelling that has often disrupted external power supply to the facility.
“I stressed that only the return of Ukraine’s full control over [the site] will protect the world from a new disaster,” Mr Zelenskiy said.
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Last Friday, in his latest update on the plant, Mr Grossi said: “I saw clear indications of military preparations in the area when I visited… just over three weeks ago.
“Since then, our experts at the site have frequently reported about hearing detonations, at times suggesting intense shelling not far from the site. I’m deeply concerned about the situation”.
Kyiv says Russia parks military vehicles at the plant, effectively using it as a “nuclear shield”, and fires from the area at Ukrainian-held territory across the Dnipro. Moscow denies those claims and insists it is protecting the facility from attack.
Fighting is expected to intensify in Zaporizhzhia and neighbouring Kherson regions when Ukraine launches its planned spring counter-offensive, with the aim of smashing through Russian lines and retaking swathes of occupied land in both provinces.
However, Kyiv says arms and ammunition are still arriving too slowly from its Western allies.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Mr Zelenskiy, compared intense speculation about the counter-offensive to hype surrounding a major film or television series among fans and commentators.
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“Meanwhile, ordinary Ukrainians who left civilian life to defend their country are preparing to reclaim their home day after day, but they do not understand where the promised ammunition, aircraft and long-range missiles are...,” Mr Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said 42 Ukrainian soldiers and two civilians returned home from captivity after the latest exchange of prisoners with Russia.
The Russian defence ministry said 40 of its servicemen were released in the swap.
