РУССКИЙ
10:35 19.08.2026 •
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
Photo: MFA
Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in connection with efforts to sabotage IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s visit to the Zaporozhskaya NPP and Energodar.
The Foreign Ministry expresses its grave concern regarding the aggressive and malicious actions by the Kiev regime and its persistent provocations targeting the Zaporozhskaya NPP. The plant and its personnel have been subjected to almost daily attacks, creating a real threat of causing a nuclear disaster in the centre of Europe.
Ukraine’s decision to sabotage the visit by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to the Zaporozhskaya NPP and Energodar, where plant’s employees reside, was yet another irresponsible and ill-advised step. Scheduled to take place on August 20 and 21, the trip was timed to coincide with the regular rotation of the IAEA Secretariat’s experts at the plant.
The IAEA Secretariat had coordinated all details with Russia in advance. We offered the required security guarantees to the Agency’s complete satisfaction. However, Kiev cynically threatened the IAEA Director General, saying outright that it could not guarantee his safety when travelling to the Zaporozhskaya NPP through Russian territory.
The Foreign Ministry views this position as another act of self-incrimination by the Kiev regime. It makes no secret of its criminal intentions regarding a senior executive from one of the world’s biggest international organisations and has de facto designated him as a target. It is quite understandable that, given these circumstances, Rafael Grossi had to cancel his visit.
It is quite obvious that in this situation the IAEA must finally recognise that the threats to the Zaporozhskaya NPP come from Ukraine, as Russia has been saying for several years now.
Kiev has derailed staff rotations at the Zaporozhskaya NPP many times already, while also violating ceasefires for carrying out restorations at energy infrastructure facilities which have a direct bearing on the plant’s safe operation. Kiev has not had any qualms about targeting vehicles used by the IAEA Secretariat’s staff for transport. There is no end to the list of crimes perpetrated by Kiev. For instance, in the early hours of August 18, a bus stop in Energodar was hit by a strike, leaving one person dead and 15 wounded.
All this would have been impossible were it not for the unrelenting political support Zelensky and his gang, emboldened as they are by their impunity, receive from Western countries. All this does is encourage the Kiev regime to carry out new and increasingly irresponsible and reckless undertakings and create threats to nuclear security, which can have dire consequences for the entire world. Those who persist in their efforts to sweep under the carpet these actions by Ukraine, and also offer the Zelensky regime financial and political backing, act as its accomplices and share the responsibility for its actions.
read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs
